Washington, US President Donald Trump has said the United States and India are moving towards a trade agreement, while describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a \u201cgood friend\u201d and signalling confidence that the two countries will reach a deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the White House during an event focused on coal and energy policy, Trump said on Thursday that trade negotiations with India were progressing despite his long-standing criticism of India’s tariff regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked about reports that a trade agreement was close after Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent visit to India, Trump said: \u201cWell, we have it.\u201d He added: \u201cWe’ll get to a deal because I like — you know, I like your prime minister a lot. He’s a good friend of mine, get along great and we’re going to make a deal. We get we have a very good relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump used the exchange to repeat his long-held criticism that India maintained high tariffs on American products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIndia, for years, really took advantage of the United States,\u201d he said. \u201cThey charged us tremendous tariffs, and they paid nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President cited the example of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, arguing that high import duties had historically limited access for American manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs an example, in the past, they wouldn’t let Harley Davidson sell its motor — they would charge a 200 per cent tariff,\u201d Trump said. \u201cSo Harley Davidson was precluded. They ended up going to India and building their own plants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump contrasted what he described as past trade arrangements with his administration’s current approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey charged tremendous amounts of tariffs to our –, and we didn’t charge them anything,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd now it’s the exact reverse, and we’re making a lot of money with India.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The comments come amid growing expectations in Washington and New Delhi that negotiators are closing gaps on a bilateral trade package aimed at expanding market access and reducing tariff disputes between the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trade has emerged as one of the most significant areas of engagement in the broader India-US strategic partnership. Both governments have repeatedly emphasised the importance of strengthening economic ties alongside cooperation in defence, technology, energy and critical supply chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump’s remarks also reflected the personal rapport he has frequently highlighted with PM Modi. During his first term, the two leaders held high-profile public events, including the \u201cHowdy Modi\u201d gathering in Houston and the \u201cNamaste Trump\u201d event in Ahmedabad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington, US President Donald Trump has said the United States and India are moving towards a trade agreement, while describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a \u201cgood friend\u201d and signalling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-display","category-international","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2707,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions\/2707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsaxis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}