NEW DELHI: In March 2023, defence minister Rajnath Singh had some unusual guests for Holi as commerce secretary Gina Raimondo and her team attended the festivities at his Ashoka Road bungalow. The result was a series of announcements, which extended up to PM Narendra Modi's visit to the US in June 2023. It had taken two years to undo what Trump administration had done in its four years in office.
And, just when the commerce department brass in New Delhi was cheering the smooth ties with Washington, they will have to brace for ensuring that the relations are not strained once Donald Trump walks into Oval Office next Jan. After all, just last month, he called India the "biggest charger" of tariffs. In Sept, he called India a "very big (trade) abuser", keeping it and Brazil just a notch below China.
The rhetoric is no different from his first term when he called India "tariff king" and went on to increase import duty on steel and aluminum by 10-25%, invoking national security provisions. The duty impacted 2.3% of India's trade with the US, and govt responded with retaliatory tariffs on almonds, apples lentils and steel after preferences were also withdrawn by Trump administration.
This time too, he has indicated his preference for "tit-for-tat" tariffs. "So, we're going to do a reciprocal trade. If anybody charges us 10 cents, if they charge us $2, if they charge us 100%, we charge the same," Trump had said ahead of Modi's US trip.
Trump doesn't believe in looking at the average.
