US President Donald Trump has once again defended his administration’s decision to impose 50 percent tariffs on Indian imports, describing trade relations between the two countries as “totally one-sided” for decades, even as he maintained that Washington and New Delhi “get along very well.”
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump argued that India had long levied some of the world’s highest tariffs on American products, creating an unfair trade imbalance. “India, for many years, it was a one-sided relationship… India was charging us tremendous tariffs. They were the highest in the world,” he said.
Trump cited the example of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, claiming that India once imposed tariffs as high as 200 percent, which prevented the US company from selling its products. He added that Harley-Davidson eventually set up a plant in India to bypass such barriers.
Defending his protectionist policies, Trump said thousands of companies — particularly carmakers from China, Mexico, and Canada — were now choosing to set up operations in the US to benefit from tariffs and avoid trade restrictions. “When you build their cars here, you don’t have any tariffs,” he noted.
The US President had earlier taken to Truth Social to describe the US-India trade relationship as a “one-sided disaster”, alleging that New Delhi sells a “tremendous amount” of goods to the US while purchasing very little in return. He also criticised India’s continued reliance on Russia for oil and military supplies.
“India has now offered to cut their tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago,” Trump wrote.
The tariff hikes have added to global concerns over rising economic tensions, particularly as India navigates uncertainties linked to its purchase of Russian crude oil, which has triggered additional US duties of 25 percent.