Donald Trump, a former US president, has brought up the topic of American goods being taxed in India once more, particularly the renowned Harley-Davidson motorcycles. If elected in the 2024 US presidential elections, he has vowed to levy a reciprocal tax.
Tariff king India
Donald Trump referred to India as a “tariff king” during his first term in office and revoked India’s preferential market access in May 2019 on the grounds that it had denied the US fair and reasonable access to its markets.
Trump took a strong stance against the ‘very high’ to over 100% tax rates in India.
“Another thing I want is a matching tax that would apply if India charged us — India has a lot of tariffs. Actually, I witnessed it with Harley-Davidson. How are things in a country like India, I asked. Oh no, please. Why? The tariffs are 100 percent, 150 percent, and 200 percent,” said Trump.
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“I recommended that they should sell their Indian motorbike. Actually, they produce an Indian motorcycle. The former US President added, “They may sell that into our nation without paying any tax or tariff, but when you produce a Harley, when you send it over there — because they were doing no business.
I asked, “Why don’t you conduct business with India? No one wants it because the tariff is so expensive. But they want us to go over and construct a plant so that there won’t be any tariffs, he continued.
Brazil’s Tax Imposition
In addition to India, Trump claimed that Brazil is very big’ on tariffs. But India is a huge country. Brazil is enormous, I mean very, very big on tariffs. We had a few attendees, including the senator from Pennsylvania, a state I like. But this guy was absolutely horrible.
Let me ask you a question, I said. Can we charge India 100% if they are charging us 2000% and we are paying nothing for their goods? That is not free trade, sir. Can we impose a 50% fee on them? No, sir. 25, 10, anything at all? No. What the hell is wrong, I yelled? The situation is not right. You understand what I’m talking about,” added Trump.
Trump is currently dealing with a number of legal proceedings and indictments. According to significant national polls, he is also in the lead for the Republican presidential nomination and receives more than half of the GOP support.
He has, however, formally declared that he would not participate in the upcoming Republican primary debate, which will be the first of the 2024 cycle.
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