Cut on motorcycle tariffs by India fair deal: Trump
Washington, Jan 25 : US President Donald Trump has said the decision by India last year to cut the tariffs on motorcycles by half was a fair deal, but rued the high duties on American whisky.
At a White House event on the Reciprocal Trade Act on Thursday, Trump flashed out a green colour board that had examples of non-reciprocal tariffs from various countries.
"Look at motorcycles as an example. (In) India, it was 100 per cent. I got them down to 50 per cent, just by talking for about two minutes. It's still 50 per cent vs 2.4 per cent (on imported motorcycles to the US). Again, other than that, it's a very fair deal," the president said.
Trump pointed out to the high tariff by India on import of wines. "India has a very high tariff. They charge a lot of tariffs. You look at whisky... India gets 150 per cent, we get nothing."
India had last February slashed the customs duty on imported motorcycles like Harley-Davidson to 50 per cent after Trump called it "unfair" and threatened to increase the tariff on import of Indian bikes to the US.
In his interaction with lawmakers at the White House, Trump said the Reciprocal Trade Act would give the US workers a fair and level-playing field against other countries.
The US, he alleged, had been taken advantage of by many countries all over the world. "They charge us tariffs and taxes, the likes of which nobody has any understanding. They're so high and so unfair! They also have barriers where we can't go in. They have trade barriers that make it impossible for us to sell our farm products and our other products.
"Whether they think we're very nice or not so smart, they've been doing it for many, many years and we want to end it. Many of these are friends, many of these are allies... but, sometimes, allies take advantage of us even more so than our non-allies," he said.
Trump said the Reciprocal Trade Act would help to solve the problem once and for all. "Whatever the tariff for a foreign country is, we place the same tariff on us."
"What's going to happen, I think, from a practical standpoint, is they won't be charging us tariffs anymore. We'll see. Or we'll charge them a lot. Tremendous amount of money," he said.
The Reciprocal Trade Act will be an incredible tool to bring foreign countries to the negotiating table and to get them to lower tariffs on US products and also to get rid of their trade barriers, the president asserted.
America cannot lose almost USD 800 billion on trade like has been done for many years, he said.
Congressman Sean Duffy, who introduced the Reciprocal Trade Act, has granite from India among his global list of non-reciprocal tariffs.
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West Asia crisis: MEA establishes control room to assist Indians
New Delhi (PTI): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has set up a control room to assist those affected by the escalating crisis in West Asia.
The MEA has said almost one crore Indian citizens live in West Asia and their safety and well-being is of "utmost priority" for New Delhi.
As the Iran-US conflict widened, the Indian embassy in Iran moved hundreds of Indian students from the Iranian capital of Tehran to safer locations.
"A Control Room has been set up in the Ministry of External Affairs in view of the current situation in West Asia and the Gulf region," the MEA said on Wednesday.
"The Control Room can be contacted from 9 am to 9 pm at: 1800118797 (Toll Free) +91 11 2301 2113, +91 11 2301 4104, +91 11 2301 7905," it added.
The US launched military strikes on Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Following the military offensive, Iran has carried out a wave of attacks mainly targeting Israel and American military bases in several Gulf countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
The MEA on Tuesday noted that almost one crore Indian citizens live and work in the Gulf region, and their "safety and well-being is of utmost priority."
"We cannot be impervious to any development that negatively affects them," it said.
The MEA said New Delhi will continue to closely monitor the evolving situation and take relevant decisions in the national interest, adding it is in touch with the governments in the region as well as other key partners.
A Special Control Room has been set up in the Ministry of External Affairs in view of the current situation in West Asia and the Gulf region. Details are as below ⬇️
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) March 4, 2026
🔗 https://t.co/nK3d6SY9Pa pic.twitter.com/v2EhUI5B1x
