Donald Trump is enraged at India’s high tariffs after the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen holding hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at an anti-NATO summit in China.
Modi’s embrace of Putin is seen as a reaction to Trump’s tariffs on India for buying Russian oil, and Trump quickly fired back after their meeting.
‘What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us. In other words, they sell us massive amounts of goods, their biggest ‘client,’ but we sell them very little – Until now a totally one sided relationship, and it has been for many decades,’ he said.
‘The reason is that India has charged us, until now, such high tariffs, the most of any country, that our businesses are unable to sell into India. It has been a totally one sided disaster!
‘Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the U.S. They have now offered to cut their tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago. Just some simple facts for people to ponder!!!’
India’s tariffs on imports average 14 percent according to WSJ, higher than many other nations, which led Trump to refer to Modi as the ‘tariff king.’ For example, China levies a 6.5 percent tariff on imports.
India, along with China, are the two biggest buyers of Russian oil, a crucial source of revenue for Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Â
