Former US president Donald Trump, who had visited India for the election campaign during the last presidential elections, has now come down heavily on the Indian government by raising questions about the high taxes being imposed on US products such as motorbikes and cars. According to Trump, the Indian government imposes "very, very, very high" export duty on US companies that manufacture motorcycles and cars. Trump, particularly mentioned the example of iconic Harley-Davidson motorcycles, which India charges 100 per cent as export duty fees.
India is very big with tariffs
In an interview with Larry Kudlow of Fox Business News, Trump alleged Indian taxation was quite high and warned, "What would happen if America imposes a similar tax on Indian products entering the US?".
"The other thing I want to have is a matching tax where, if India charges us -- India is very big with tariffs. I mean, I saw it with Harley-Davidson. I was saying, how do you do in a place like India? Oh, no good sir. Why? They have 100 per cent and 150 per cent and 200 per cent tariffs," said the former president.
So, I said, so they can sell their Indian motorbike. They make a bike, an Indian motorbike. They can sell that into our country with no tax, no tariff, but when you make a Harley, when you send it over there -- because they were doing no business. I said, How come you don't do business with India? The tariff is so high that nobody wants it. But what they want us to do is, they want us to go over and build a plant, and then you have no tariff," Trump said.
Trump warns about what will happen if US also imposes export tax on India
"They said, well, that's not good. That's not our deal, OK? That's not our deal. And I came down very hard on them. But India is very big. Brazil is very big on tariffs, I mean, very, very big. We had a couple of people, like the senator from a place called Pennsylvania that I love. But this guy was just horrendous. I said, Let me ask you a question. If India is charging us 200 per cent, and we're charging them nothing for products, can we charge them 100 per cent? No, sir, that's not free trade. Can we charge them 50 per cent? No, sir. Twenty-five, 10, anything? No. I said, What the hell is wrong? There's something wrong. You know what I'm talking about," he said.
"If India is charging us too, so what I want to have is a -- call it retribution. You could call it whatever you want. If they are charging us, we charge them," Trump said in response to a question.
It is worth mentioning India imposes high taxes on exports to shield the domestic market. In fact, the free trade between the UK and India has been lingering as London wants New Delhi to slash import taxes.
