US President Donald Trump has once again slammed India's high import tariff on American motorcycles, including Harley-Davidson. Trump has said that the US cannot be fooled under his leadership.
"We're not the foolish country that does so badly. You look at India, a very good friend of mine, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, you take a look at what they've done, 100 per cent tax on a motorcycle. We charge them nothing," he said.
Citing his disapproval on the issue of exports of Harley-Davidson motorcycles to India and his conversation with PM Modi, he said, "So when Harley sends over there, they have 100 per cent tax. When they (India) send in, they make a tremendous number of motorcycles when they send them in, no tax. I called him. I said it's unacceptable."
The US President further said that while PM Modi reduced the tariff by 50 per cent after his phone call, the issue is still there. "I said it's still unacceptable because it's 50 per cent versus nothing. It's still unacceptable. And they're working on it," he said.
Trump also went on to claim that the "power" of the US is that of a bank which everyone wants to rob. "That's what they've been doing for a long period of time," he said. "$800 billion we have in trade deficits with other countries. So you tell me who made those deals."
In February 2018, India had slashed the customs duty on imported motorcycles like Harley-Davidson to 50 per cent after the US threatened to impose retaliatory taxes.
According to the US Trade Representative, India is the ninth-largest good's trading partner of the US and last year, India-US bilateral trade stood at $142.1 billion.
While the trade of both the country's goods was $87.5 billion, the US President has had his eyes fixed on the $21.3 billion (in 2018) U.S. goods trade deficit with India. The matter has been at the forefront since 2017.
