Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s Xi Jinping met – on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in China – US President Donald Trump grumpily doubled down in defence of his 50 per cent tariff on India, blaming, again, a “one-sided relationship” and the purchase of Russian oil and military equipment for the high import duties.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump complained that ‘few people understand’ India-US trade as he does, and said, “… they do a tremendous amount of business with us… they sell us massive amounts of goods but we sell them very little. Until now, a totally one-sided relationship.”
The American President also doubled down on criticism of India as a ‘tariff abuser’, a claim he made last year while campaigning, and said “our business are unable to sell to India”.
“Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia… very little from the US. They have now offered to cut their tariffs to nothing… but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago. Just some simple facts for people to ponder!” he declared ominously.