Will raise tariffs on India ‘very substantially’ over next 24 hours, says Trump
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would raise the tariff on India “very substantially over the next 24 hours”, stating that while India is set to offer the US “zero tariffs” under a trade deal, it would not be good enough due to its purchase of Russian oil.
On Monday, too, Trump had warned that he would raise the tariff on India “substantially”, saying that India was not only buying “massive amounts of Russian oil” but also selling it “on the open market for big profits”.
In the sharpest statement since Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods from August 7, along with an unspecified penalty for its defence and energy imports from Russia, New Delhi hit back on Monday, saying the targeting of India was “unjustified and unreasonable”, and the country would take “all necessary measures” to safeguard its “national interests and economic security”.
On Tuesday, Russia said sovereign countries have the right to select their partners in trade and economic cooperation based on their interests. “We believe that sovereign countries must have, and do have, the right to choose their trade partners, the partners in trade and economic cooperation, on their own, and independently determine those modes of trade and economic cooperation that suit the interests of a country in question,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, commenting on the US’s threats regarding India.