White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt on Monday targeted India for imposing a 100 percent tariff on agricultural products from the United States and warned that there would be no exemptions on the reciprocal tariffs planned to be imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration on April 2.
She said such ‘unfair trade practices’ need to be stopped.
Holding a piece of paper that showed the tariffs imposed by the European Union, India, Japan, and Canada on US products, she told reporters: “If you look at the unfair trade practices that we have a 50 percent from the European Union on American dairy. You have a 700 per cent tariff from Japan on American rice. You have a 100 percent tariff from India on American agricultural products.”
“You have nearly a 300 per cent tariff from Canada on American butter and American cheese,” she said.
She said the tariff makes it ‘virtually impossible’ to import US products into these countries.
“It puts a lot of Americans out of business and out of work over the past several decades,” she said.
“It’s time for reciprocity. It’s time for the President to make a historic change,” she said.
“This will now happen on Wednesday,” she said.
Trade talks in progress
India agreed to reduce tariffs on bourbon whiskey and agricultural goods such as almonds, walnuts, cranberries, pistachios, and lentils during discussions with Brendan Lynch, the Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, a source familiar with the talks revealed.
On March 27, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal stated that trade negotiations with the US are “progressing well”, though a formal bilateral trade pact remains under discussion.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry declined to comment on the latest tariff talks, while a spokesperson for the US embassy in New Delhi also refrained from sharing details on private diplomatic discussions.
India’s proactive approach
Unlike many other nations, India has been proactive in negotiating tariff adjustments and is open to reductions on over half of US imports valued at $23 billion, Reuters reported earlier this week.
Goyal previously stated that India and the US could offer mutual tariff reductions, leveraging their complementary economies to facilitate trade.
In February, India lowered its customs duty on bourbon whiskey from 150 percent to 100 percent.
With ongoing negotiations, further tariff adjustments could follow soon.
Trump’s evolving stance
While Trump has repeatedly criticised India’s high tariffs, he has softened his position in recent days.
Without naming specific countries, he indicated that several nations would receive trade concessions on April 2.
He also suggested that tariff policies may be more “lenient than reciprocal”.
