'India won't be spared from Washington's reciprocal tariffs, I told Modi...,' says Donald Trump; Musk criticises Biden administration

There are no permanent friends and foes in politics. Interest comes first, friendship later. At least US President Donald Trump's tough tariff stance against India during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip to Washington sounds so.

In an interview with Fox News, the US President said that India would not be spared from Washington's reciprocal tariffs.

The president of the world's largest economy said that 'nobody can argue with me' on tariff structure.

Trump made these remarks while appearing in a Fox News interview with billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday night.

Trump's remarks came days after he announced reciprocal tariffs against India on February 13, hours before Modi's bilateral meeting with him in the White House.

Strengthening his tariff stance, Trump said that his administration 'will work strenuously to counter non-reciprocal trading arrangements with trading partners by determining the equivalent of a reciprocal tariff with respect to each foreign trading partner.' 

Trump on what he told PM Modi

During the interview, Trump reiterated his views on existing tariff structures between the US and its partners, including India.

"I told Prime Minister Modi yesterday - he was here - I said, 'Here's what we're going to do: reciprocal. Whatever you charge, I'm charging,'" Trump said.

"He (Modi) goes, 'No, no, I don't like that.' 'No, no, whatever you charge, I'm going to charge.' I'm doing that with every country." 

India has strong tariffs on certain imports from the US. E.g., in the automobile sector, India charges 100 per cent tariffs.

Musk echoed Trump's sentiments during the interview, " It's 100 per cent - auto imports are 100 per cent." 

"Yeah, that's peanuts. So, much higher. And — and others too. I said, “Here's what we're going to do: reciprocal. Whatever you charge, I'm charging,” Trump said.

Reciprocal tariff system

Under the reciprocal tariff system, the US would impose the same level of tariffs on Indian imports as India does on American goods.

"Nobody can argue with me," President Trump insisted. 

"If I said 25 per cent, they'd say, 'Oh, that's terrible.' I don't say that anymore... Because I say, 'Whatever they charge, we'll charge.' And you know what? They stop."

During Modi's visit to the US, while responding to a question on reciprocal tariffs on India, Trump said, "India has been, to us, just about the highest tariffed nation anywhere in the world. They've been very strong on tariffs, and I don't blame them, necessarily, but it's a different way of doing business. It's very hard to sell to India because they have trade barriers and very strong tariffs. 

“We are right now a reciprocal nation. We are going to - if it's India or if it's somebody else with low tariffs, we're going to have the same. We're going to have whatever India charges, we're charging them. Whatever another country charges, we're charging them. So, it's called reciprocal, which I think is a very fair way. We didn't have that." 

When Trump called India 'tariff king'

During his first term as the US president, Trump described India as a 'tariff king' and in May 2019, terminated India's preferential market access -- Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) -- to the US, alleging India has not given the United States 'equitable and reasonable access to its markets.' 

Musk slams Biden administration 

Musk made startling claims against the Biden administration during the interview.

He claimed that two NASA astronauts, including Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams, currently stuck in space, had been left there by the Biden administration 'for political purposes.' 

SpaceX, also founded and owned by Musk, has been contracted to bring Williams and Butch Wilmore home. 

Musk said the rescue attempts would be being made in less than a month.

“They were left up there for political reasons, which is not good,” he said.

“Okay, it's not good...Well, we don't want to be complacent, but we have brought astronauts back from the space station many times before, and always with success.” 

Trump chipped in, “They didn't have the go-ahead with Biden. He was going to leave them in space.”

(With inputs from PTI)