US President-Elect Donald Trump has issued a fresh warning to India saying that if it taxes American products, the US will do the same. Trump's words came during his interaction with journalists at his Mar-a-Lago resort Since his first term, Trump has been hawkish about taxing foreign products but has not fully implemented what he has said. However, Trump's warnings are taken seriously as markets move according to what a US president says.
"If they tax us, we tax them the same amount," Trump told reporters.
Other than about India, Trump has been vocal about taxes imposed on American products by Brazil, Mexico and China.
"The word reciprocal is important because if somebody charges us - India, we don't have to talk about our own - if India charges us 100 per cent, do we charge them nothing for the same? You know, they send in a bicycle, and we send them a bicycle. They charge us 100 and 200. India charges a lot," said Trump.
"India charges a lot. Brazil charges a lot. If they want to charge us, that's fine, but we're going to charge them the same thing," he added.
The outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden has sounded upbeat about India-US ties. On Tuesday, Biden administration said that it was leaving India-US relations "in a very strong place"
“We continue to be very ambitious about the US-India relationship. We've had very high-level engagement over the course of the last several months with the QUAD summit in Delaware, and we are anticipating a high-level engagement in the last few weeks of the Biden administration,” said US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on Tuesday.
