Washington (Rajeev Sharma): US President Donald Trump has criticized India’s past trade approach, arguing that American businesses faced some of the harshest tariff barriers in the world while Indian goods entered the U.S. market with relative ease.
Trump claimed that the U.S.–India economic relationship had long been tilted against American producers. “India was charging us tremendous tariffs, some of the highest anywhere. Meanwhile, our market was wide open for them,” he said during his remarks.
He pointed to the example of Harley-Davidson, an American motorcycle manufacturer, which faced import duties of up to 200 percent in India. According to Trump, the company was eventually compelled to open a plant in India to continue selling its products without prohibitive costs.
Trump contrasted this with his own trade policies, saying that new tariff measures introduced during his presidency encouraged thousands of companies to move manufacturing operations into the U.S. He noted that automobile firms from China, Mexico, and Canada had already started building factories in America, both to gain direct access to the U.S. market and to avoid paying import duties.
“When companies produce inside the United States, they don’t have to deal with tariffs. That means more jobs here at home,” Trump emphasized.
The former president has consistently accused India of unfair trade practices and has demanded greater reciprocity in market access. His latest comments once again underline the long-standing friction between Washington and New Delhi over tariffs and trade rules
