India Willing To Charge 'No Tariffs' On US Goods: Trump

The United States President Donald Trump has said that India has offered to drop all tariffs on goods imported from his country.

During his visit to Doha, an event being attended by Mukesh Ambani as well as the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Donald Trump said that the Indian government has "offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff".

However, there is no official confirmation on this statement yet.

The US President was speaking at an event with several business leaders in Doha, where he announced a series of deals between the US and Qatar including one for Boeing jets.

This comment has also been made simultaneously with yet another controversial comment wherein Trump has asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to not manufacture in India.

"I said I don't want you building in India," a Bloomber report cited Trump, as he was referring to conversation he had with Tim Cook.

Trump also added that Apple will be "upping their production in the United States."

India-US Trade Talks

At present, India and the United States are in the middle of trade talks to negotiate a trade agreement.

These comments come at the heels of his previous remarks made on April 20, wherein Trump had said that his talks with India on the tariff issue were "going great" and emphasised on his confidence in reaching a final deal soon.

"India tariff talks are going great, think we'll have a deal soon," Trump said while speaking at an event in Michigan.

India had originally proposed to reduce its average tariff differential with the US from around 13% to under 4%, which is a 9 percentage-point drop, as per a Reuters report.

India is currently trying to align its trade policies with major global partners like the US, UK and France.

As part of its proposed deal, with the US, India has offered to bring duties down to zero on 60% of tariff lines in the first phase.

The report added that the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had offered the United States preferential access to nearly 90% of goods imported from the United States, including the reduced tariffs, one of the two officials involved in the talks said.

This preferential access includes access for key export sectors such as gems and jewellery, leather, apparel, textiles, plastics, chemicals, oilseeds, shrimp, and horticultural produce like bananas and grapes, the Reuters report added.

Later this month, a delegation of Indian officials is likely to visit the US to take negotiations forward.

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