US President Donald Trump asserted on Friday, February 7, that India had agreed to significantly lower its tariffs, attributing the decision to increased scrutiny of the country’s trade practices. “Somebody is finally exposing them for what they’ve done,” Trump remarked.
His comments came shortly after New Delhi, in response to Trump’s earlier threat of reciprocal tariffs, stated that negotiations for a trade deal remained ongoing. The discussions were initially announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington.
Speaking to the media from the Oval Office, Trump criticized India’s trade barriers, calling them excessive. “India charges massive tariffs on American goods. You can’t even sell anything into India, it’s almost restrictive—it is restrictive. You know, we do very little business inside,” he said.
Trump continued: “They’ve agreed—by the way, they want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody’s finally exposing them for what they’ve done.”
This was one of many instances where Trump had expressed frustration over Indian tariffs since taking office. Earlier in the week, he had threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs, including non-monetary measures, starting April 2.
When asked to comment on Trump’s Tuesday remarks, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, reiterated that both countries were focused on finalizing a trade deal that would be beneficial for both sides.
“I would like to repeat what we had mentioned there. Our objective through the BTA [bilateral trade agreement] is to strengthen and deepen India-US two-way trade across goods and services, increase market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration between the two countries,” Jaiswal stated.
He added, “So, that is how we look at the issue of tariffs as far as India-US is concerned.”
When asked whether Washington had assured India against reciprocal tariffs or if Trump’s comments were viewed as an “act of bad faith” amid ongoing talks, Jaiswal gave a similar response, emphasizing the ongoing negotiations.
He also noted that Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was in the US from Tuesday to Thursday, where he engaged in discussions with his American counterparts on trade, tariffs, and other issues.
Meanwhile, Howard Lutnick, who serves as the US Commerce Secretary, spoke at the India Today Conclave via videoconference on Friday, arguing that India should lower tariffs on American goods.
“It’s time to do something big, something grand, something that connects India and the United States together but does it on a broad scale, not product by product, but rather the whole thing. Let’s bring India’s tariff policy towards America down, and America will invite India in to have really an extraordinary opportunity and relationship with us,” Lutnick said.
In response, India Today journalist Rahul Kanwal pointed out that reducing tariffs on agricultural imports could be politically damaging for the Modi government. Lutnick, however, maintained that India’s agricultural market needed to open up.
“It has to open up, it can’t just stay closed,” he stated. “Now, how you do that and the scale by which you do that—maybe you do quotas, maybe you do limits, you can be smarter when you have your most important trading partner on the other side of the table.”
He further argued, “You can’t just say, as you said, ‘Oh, it’s off the table’; that’s just not an attractive way of doing business.”
India has long maintained high tariffs to protect its agricultural sector, which supports millions of small farmers.
Lutnick described India’s tariffs as “some of the highest in the world” and suggested that reassessing the trade relationship with the US would be necessary to strengthen the “special relationship” between the two nations.
He also emphasized the need for India to reduce its dependence on Russia for military supplies.
During Modi’s visit to Washington last month, both countries agreed to finalize a trade deal addressing mutual concerns, with the first phase set to be negotiated before the fall of this year.
Trump also announced that India would significantly increase its purchases of American weapons this year, amounting to “billions of dollars.”
“We’re also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighters,” Trump stated. However, New Delhi later downplayed the significance of this claim.
Reflecting on his discussions with Modi, Trump described their exchange regarding tariffs: “And I said, ‘You know what we do?’ I told Prime Minister Modi yesterday—he was here. I said, ‘Here’s what you do. We’re going to do—be very fair with you.’ They charge the highest tariffs in the world, just about.”
He continued, “I said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do: reciprocal. Whatever you charge, I’m charging.’ 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.”
As negotiations continue, the US remains firm on its demand for India to reduce tariffs, while India seeks to maintain trade protections, especially in sensitive sectors like agriculture.