English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Russian
Spanish
Urdu
US President Donald Trump announced a 26 per cent “discounted reciprocal tariff” on India, half of the 52 per cent levies imposed by India on American goods, as he described India as “very, very tough.”
“This is Liberation Day, a day we’ve been waiting for a long time. 2nd April 2025 will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day we began to make America wealthy again, going to make it wealthy, good, and wealthy,” Trump said on Wednesday in remarks from the Rose Garden at the White House as he announced the closely watched reciprocal tariffs on countries that impose levies on American goods.
In his nearly hour-long remarks on a cold Wednesday late afternoon in the Rose Garden, Trump listed various countries from around the world and the tariffs they charge on US products, saying, “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike. American steelworkers, auto workers, farmers, and skilled craftsmen… They really suffered gravely. They watched in anguish as foreign leaders stole our jobs. Foreign cheaters ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers tore apart our once-beautiful American dream.”
Joined by factory and automotive workers, as well as members of his Cabinet in the audience, Trump signed the “historic Executive Order” instituting reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world.
“Reciprocal. That means they do it to us and we do it to them. Very simple. Can’t get any simpler than that,” Trump said to applause from those gathered for the event.
“Let me offer just a few examples of the vicious attacks our workers have faced for so many years. The United States charges other countries only a 2.4 per cent tariff on motorcycles. Meanwhile, Thailand and others charge much higher rates, like 60 per cent. India charges 70 per cent, Vietnam charges 75 per cent, and others are even higher than that.
“Likewise, until today, the United States has for decades charged a 2.5 per cent tariff. Think of that – 2.5 per cent on foreign-made automobiles. The European Union charges us more than 10 per cent tariffs…. India charges 70 per cent and perhaps worst of all are the non-monetary restrictions imposed by South Korea, Japan, and very many other nations,” he said.
As he announced the tariffs, Trump held up a chart that showed the tariffs that countries such as India, China, the European Union, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan levy on US products, and the reciprocal levies these countries will now have to pay.
On India, the chart showed that the country charged 52 per cent tariffs on the US, “including currency manipulation and trade barriers”, and America would now charge India “discounted reciprocal tariffs” of 26 per cent.
“India, very, very tough. Very, very tough. The Prime Minister just left. He’s a great friend of mine, but I said, ‘You’re a friend of mine, but you’re not treating us right.’ They charge us 52 per cent. You have to understand, we charge them almost nothing, for years and years and decades, and it was only seven years ago, when I came in, we started with China and we took in hundreds of billions of dollars from China in tariffs,” Trump said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Washington DC in February, less than a month after Trump took the oath of office and began his second term in the White House as President.
In the past, Trump has called India the “tariff king” and a “big abuser”. During a joint press conference with Modi in the White House on 13th February, Trump had said that India has “been very strong on tariffs,” and “I don’t blame them, necessarily, but it’s a different way of doing business. It’s very hard to sell into India because they have trade barriers, very strong tariffs.”
Trump had said that the US trade deficit with India is almost USD 100 billion, and Modi and he agreed that “we’ll begin negotiations to address the long-running disparities that should have been taken care of over the last four years – but they didn’t do that – in the US-India trading relationship, with the goal of signing an agreement. And we want – really, we want a certain level playing field, which we really think we’re entitled to, and he does also, in fairness, so we’re going to work on that very hard.”
In announcing the tariffs, Trump said America is being “very kind” to the countries and will be charging them approximately half of the levies they impose on US goods.
“For nations that treat us badly, we will calculate the combined rate of all their tariffs, non-monetary barriers, and other forms of cheating. And because we are being very kind, we’re a kind people, very kind… we will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us. So the tariffs will not be fully reciprocal. I could have done that, yes, but it would have been tough for a lot of countries who didn’t want to do that.”
“It’s going to be Liberation Day in America, and it’s going to be a day that hopefully you’re going to look back in years to come and say, ‘You know, he was right. This has turned out to be one of the most important days in the history of our country,'” Trump said as he concluded his remarks.
