India killed U.S. with tariffs, now offers ‘no tariffs’: Trump

India “kills” the U.S. with tariffs and the country has now offered “no tariffs”, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed amid New Delhi’s escalating tensions with Washington over trade and tariffs.

“They have tariffs against us. China, which kills us with tariffs. India kills us with tariffs. Brazil kills us [with tariffs],” Mr. Trump told a radio show on Tuesday.

The U.S. President said he understands tariffs “better” than anybody. “I understood tariffs better than any human being in the world. And now with my tariffs, they were all dropping them. India was the most highly tariffed nation… And you know what, they’ve offered me no tariffs in India anymore. No tariffs,” he said.

“If I didn’t have tariffs, they would never make that offer. They would never make that offer. So you have to have tariffs. We’re going to be economically strong,” Mr. Trump added.

With a federal appeals court ruling that most of Mr. Trump’s tariffs imposed on countries around the world are illegal, the U.S. President said that the court case is “sponsored” by other nations because “they are taking advantage of us”. “They’re not going to take advantage anymore,” he added.

Also read | The wider implications of Trump’s economic and trade policies

Later, speaking at the White House, Mr. Trump said that the U.S. gets along with India very well, but the relationship was one-sided for many years since Delhi was charging Washington “tremendous tariffs”.

“No, we get along with India very well,” he said in response to a question on whether he will withdraw some of the tariffs imposed on India. He said that for many years, the relationship between India and the U.S. was “one-sided” and that changed when he assumed office.

“India was charging us tremendous tariffs, about the highest in the world,” Mr. Trump said, adding that the U.S. was therefore not doing much business with India.

“But they were doing business with us because we weren’t charging them, foolishly, we weren’t charging them,” he said, adding that India was pouring its products into the U.S.

“They would send it in, pour it into our country. Therefore, it wouldn’t be made here, which is a negative, but we would not send in anything because they were charging us 100% tariffs,” he said.

The U.S. President cited the example of Harley Davidson motorcycles, saying the company could not sell in India because there was a 200% tariff on a motorcycle.

“So what happens? Harley Davidson went to India and built a motorcycle plant, and now they don’t have to pay tariffs, same thing as us,” he said.