U.S. President Donald Trump has said India offered to eliminate all tariffs on American products, indicating a possible breakthrough in trade talks between the two countries. Trump said during a commercial conference in Doha, “The Indian government has presented us a deal whereby essentially they are willing to literally charge us no tariff.”
India and the United States are still negotiating to complete a bilateral trade deal. However, the Indian government has not yet responded to Trump’s comments. The BBC sought clarification from India’s Commerce Ministry, but no more information on the agreement has been made public.
Trump mentioned the comments during a meeting with business leaders in Doha, where he also unveiled a number of trade agreements involving the U.S. and Qatar, including Boeing jet acquisitions. He mentioned Apple’s plans to relocate iPhone production to India in the same address, saying he had cautioned Apple CEO Tim Cook against investing there because of historically high taxes.
“They [India] have presented us a deal in which, essentially, they have agreed to impose almost no tariffs.” I told him, “Tim, we are really treating you. “For years, we tolerated all the China-built plants you constructed. You are not of interest to building in India. India can look after themselves,” Trump remarked.
Apple revealed earlier this month its intention to shift most iPhone manufacturing from China to India; Vietnam would then handle iPad and Apple Watch production. This strategic change is membership in a larger action by technology firms to diversify their supply chains against world trade conflicts.
Trump set tariffs of as much as 27% on Indian products in April. India is hurrying to complete a trade deal while the U.S. 90-day halt on extra tariffs, which ends on July 9, is under review. Should no agreement by then, higher tariffs could be reintroduced, hence worsening relations.
The U.S. and China have reached a partial agreement to reduce import taxes. Under this agreement, Chinese tariffs on some American products will fall from 125% to 10%, while tariffs on Chinese imports will fall from 145% to 30%.
The U.S., until not too recently, with bilateral trade estimated at $190 billion (£143 billion), was India’s biggest trading partner. Notwithstanding this strong commerce link, the U.S. maintains a $45 billion commerce deficit with India, which Trump has often condemned.
India has already lowered tariffs on goods including bourbon whiskey and motorcycles, thus making some concessions. As per trade analyst Ajay Srivastava, India could take a “zero-for-zero” approach, doing away with tariffs on almost 90% of U.S. goods—excluding politically sensitive areas such as agriculture and automobiles. Srivastava underlined that both sides would have to make equal tariff cuts in any agreement—a reciprocal one.
Though Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have set an ambitious target to double bilateral trade to $500 billion, India is expected to remain wary in sensitive fields such as agriculture, where domestic politics greatly influence matters.
India has lately become more receptive to foreign trade pacts despite years of protectionist commerce. India last week agreed to a trade agreement with the UK that would substantially lower tariffs on protected items, including whiskey and cars. After almost 16 years of talks, India also completed a $100 billion trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 2024.
India and the European Union are also diligently pursuing a free trade agreement, hoping to finalize the agreement by year’s end. These changes show a definite change in India’s worldwide commerce attitude, and any good agreement with the U.S. might be a turning point in its developing trade policy.
