Trump says India may lower tariffs, but reciprocal taxes will apply from April 2

United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday said in an interview to Breitbart News that he believes India will likely reduce the tariffs that it imposes on American goods.

“I believe they’re going to probably going to be lowering those tariffs substantially, but on April 2, we will be charging them the same tariffs they charge us,” Trump told the American news network.

New Delhi, however, is yet to make any commitments to Washington on tariffs and has sought time until September to address the matter, the Union government told a parliamentary panel on March 10.

This came two days after Trump said that India had agreed to “cut their tariffs way down”. On March 5, he had announced that reciprocal tariffs would be imposed on India, China and other countries from April 2.

The US president has repeatedly said he intends to impose a reciprocal tax on India, citing high tariffs imposed by New Delhi on foreign goods.

Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal had told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs that India was working with the United States to ensure a mutually beneficial trade agreement. Barthwal said the agreement would focus on long-term trade cooperation rather than immediate tariff adjustments.

Unlike China, Mexico and Canada – which are also facing tariffs from the Trump administration – New Delhi was engaged...

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