Donald Trump has threatened to impose taxes on countries that “harm” America, including China and India.
US President Donald Trump on Monday said that high-tariff countries such as India, China, and Brazil “harm” America and that Washington would impose taxes on other countries to bring money into the US.
“We’re going to put tariffs on outside countries and outside people that really mean harm to us. Well, they mean us harm, but they basically want to make their country good,” Trump told House Republicans at a Florida retreat on Monday, PTI reported.
“Look at what others do. China is a tremendous tariff maker, and India and Brazil and so many other countries. So we’re not going to let that happen any longer because we’re going to put America first,” he said.
Trump is reported to have said that the US will establish a “very fair system where money is going to come into our coffers, and America is going to be very rich again,” adding that it will happen “very quickly”.
Trump said that it was time for the US to return to the system that made it “richer and more powerful than ever before.”
“If you want to stop paying the taxes or the tariffs, you have to build your plant right here in America. That’s what’s going to happen at record levels. We’re going to have more plants built in the next short period of time than anybody ever envisioned before because the incentive is going to be there, as they will have no tariffs whatsoever,” he said.
The Indian Express reported that India’s commerce and industry ministry has begun inter-ministerial talks to better prepare for likely changes in US trade policy that could involve tariffs on Indian goods exports to the US under the new Donald Trump administration.
This comes a day after Trump instructed his commerce and treasury departments to investigate the causes of America’s “large and persistent” annual trade deficits in goods and announced a new ‘External Revenue Service (ERS)’ to collect tariffs from foreign governments.
The US is India’s largest trade partner, with bilateral trade reaching almost $120 billion in FY24 — slightly higher than India’s trade with China. However, unlike China, India’s trade relationship with the US is favourable, making the US a vital source of foreign exchange.
Despite attempts to diversify exports, India’s dependence on the US has grown over the past decade. According to official 2022–23 data, the US accounts for 18% of India’s exports, compared to 10% in 2010–11. India’s export basket to the US is well-diversified, benefiting industries ranging from textiles to electronics and engineering.