Trump says trade deal with India not finalised
New York (PTI): US President Donald Trump has said the trade deal with India is not finalised, as he stressed that India imposes more tariffs than almost any other country.
Trump spoke to reporters on Tuesday on Air Force One on his way back to Washington from Scotland and was asked about the trade deal with India.
“No, it’s not,” Trump said when asked if the deal with India is finalised.
He was also asked about reports that India is preparing to face higher US tariffs between 20-25 per cent, to which he replied, “I think so.”
Trump described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a friend.
“And you know, they ended the war with Pakistan at my request, and that was great. And Pakistan did also…we did a lot of, a lot of great settlements, including the recent one, as you know, with Cambodia,” Trump said.
He again repeated the claim that he stopped the conflict between India and Pakistan through trade.
On what he is expecting from the deal with India, he said, “We are going to see. But India has been a good friend. But India has charged basically more tariffs than almost any other country…over the years. But now I'm in charge, and you just can't do that."
"I think the trade deals are working out very well, hopefully for everybody but for the United States, they're very, very good.”
A US team will visit India on August 25 for the next round of negotiations for the proposed bilateral trade agreement between the two countries, an official said in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Though the team is coming at the end of next month, both sides remain engaged to iron out differences for an interim trade deal before August 1, which marks the end of the suspension period of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on dozens of countries, including India (26 per cent).
India and the US teams concluded the fifth round of talks for the agreement last week in Washington.
On April 2 this year, Trump announced high reciprocal tariffs. The implementation of high tariffs was immediately suspended for 90 days till July 9 and later until August 1, as America is negotiating trade deals with various countries.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
