Trump says India kills us with tariffs, claims Delhi now offers 'no tariffs' to America

New York/Washington: India kills the US with tariffs and the country has now offered “no tariffs” to America, President Donald Trump has said, amid New Delhi's escalating tensions with Washington over his administration's policies on trade and tariffs.

“They have tariffs against us. China, which kills us with tariffs. India kills us with tariffs. Brazil kills us” with tariffs, Trump said in a telephone interview with The Scott Jennings Radio Show on Tuesday.

Trump added that he understands tariffs better than other countries.

“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," Trump 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,” he added.

With a federal appeals court ruling that most of Trump's tariffs imposed on countries around the world are illegal, Trump said that the court case is sponsored by other nations because they're taking advantage of us.

"...they're not going to take advantage anymore," he added.

Later, speaking at the White House, Trump said that America 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,” Trump said in response to a question on whether he is considering taking away some of the tariffs imposed on India.

He said that for many years, the relationship between India and the US was “one-sided” and that changed when he assumed office.

“India was charging us tremendous tariffs, about the highest in the world,” Trump said, adding that the US 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 US.

“They'd 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 per cent tariffs,” Trump said.

The US president cited the example of Harley Davidson motorcycles, saying the company couldn't sell into India because there was a 200 per cent 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.

On Monday, Trump claimed that India has now "offered" to cut its tariffs to nothing, “but it’s getting late”, as he said that India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia and very little from the US.

The Trump administration has imposed 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India and an additional 25 per cent levies for Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties imposed on India to 50 per cent, with effect from August 27.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asserted he can't compromise on the interests of farmers, cattle-rearers, small-scale industries, cautioning "pressure on us may increase, but we will bear it".

India has called the tariffs imposed by the US “unjustified and unreasonable”.

New Delhi said that, like any major economy, it will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.

In 2024-25, the bilateral trade in goods between the two countries stood at USD 131.8 billion (USD 86.5 billion exports and USD 45.3 billion imports).

Speaking at an event recently in Delhi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India has certain "red lines" in its negotiations for a trade deal with the US and it will stand firm in protecting the interests of farmers and small producers.

Jaishankar also sounded critical of the US for targeting New Delhi's energy ties with Moscow and wondered why the same yardstick has not been applied to China and the European Union, the largest importer of Russian crude oil and Russian LNG, respectively.