New York/Washington, Aug 8: US President Donald Trump has ruled out the possibility of trade negotiations with India, until the issue of tariffs is resolved.
“No, not until we get it resolved,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday in response to a question on whether he expects increased trade negotiations with India since he has announced 50 per cent tariffs on the country.
Last week, Trump had announced 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India that came into effect from August 7.
The US president also signed an executive order slapping an additional 25 per cent levy on India for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties to 50 per cent, among the highest imposed by the US on any country in the world.
The additional 25 per cent duty will come into effect after 21 days or August 27.
Responding to the tariffs, the Ministry of External Affairs has said that the targeting of India is “unjustified and unreasonable”.
“Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” it said.
On the current situation between India and the US, prominent Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra said “much more is at stake” amid Trump’s tariffs.
He described as “unfortunate” that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not accept a ceasefire with Ukraine as wanted by Trump.
“Hurting India is to hurt Russia,” Batra said in a post on X. “But it hurts us too, much more,” he said adding that America needs the Russian president to enter into a “genuine” ceasefire with Ukraine, “free-of-deception by any, and then get President Xi (Jinping of China) and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi to be American allies too, along with Putin.”
“It’s time for a mature reset, or we risk a domino effect that hurts all and unravels multilateralism and gives us unbridled chaos that even creative Wall Street and Federal Reserve can’t handle,” he said. (PTI)
