Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Sep 3: US President Donald Trump has once again voiced his dissatisfaction with India's trade practices, describing the relationship between the two countries as "one-sided for many years." Speaking on Wednesday, Trump criticized India for what he claimed were "tremendous tariffs, about the highest in the world," which he argued were a barrier to American exports.

Trump repeated his long-held position that while India has been able to send goods into the U.S. market, American businesses have been shut out due to high tariffs. "They would send in massive, you know, everything they made... pour it into our country... But we would not send in anything, because they were charging us 100 per cent tariffs," he stated.

While data from organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Bank does not support the claim that India has the highest tariffs globally, it does impose high duties on specific sectors, particularly agriculture, to protect its domestic farmers.

The president also revisited his often-cited example of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, claiming a "200 per cent tariff" had prevented the company from selling its bikes in India. He noted that the company had responded by building an assembly plant in Haryana to avoid the tariffs, though the plant was later shut down in 2020 due to poor sales. The Indian government has since reduced import duties on foreign motorcycles.

This latest criticism comes amid heightened trade tensions between the two nations. In August, the Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on Indian imports, later raising it to 50% in response to India's purchase of Russian oil. The move led to a diplomatic and trade crisis, and a scheduled round of trade negotiations was deferred.