BBC Information
US President Donald Trump is internet hosting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the White Home for talks on commerce.
Modi’s two-day go to comes as Trump ordered that US buying and selling companions ought to face reciprocal tariffs – tit-for-tat import taxes to match comparable duties already charged by these nations on American exports.
Immigration was excessive on the agenda, with Trump anticipated to ask India to take again hundreds of undocumented immigrants.
Writing earlier on X, Modi mentioned he had additionally mentioned house, expertise and innovation at a gathering with Trump ally Elon Musk.
Trump and Modi have developed a private rapport through the years, regardless of friction over commerce.
“We have had an exquisite relationship,” Trump mentioned as he welcomed his customer to Washington DC on Thursday.
Modi mentioned: “I firmly consider with Trump we’ll work with twice the velocity we did in his first time period.”
“They are going to be buying a variety of our oil and fuel,” Trump added. “They want it. And we now have it.”
Shortly earlier than their bilateral, Trump ordered his advisers to calculate broad new tariffs on US buying and selling companions across the globe, warning they might begin coming into impact by 1 April.
In a information convention within the Oval Workplace, the president informed reporters that “our allies are worse than our enemies”, on the subject of import taxes.
“We had a really unfair system to us,” the Republican president mentioned earlier than assembly Modi. “Everyone took benefit of america.”
The White Home additionally issued a information launch that fired a commerce shot throughout the bows of India and different nations.
The doc famous that the typical US tariff on agricultural items was 5% for nations to which Washington had granted most favoured nation (MFN) standing.
“However India’s common utilized MFN tariff is 39%,” the White Home reality sheet mentioned.
“India additionally costs a 100% tariff on US bikes, whereas we solely cost a 2.4% tariff on Indian bikes.”
On Thursday Trump acknowledged the dangers of his tariff coverage, as economists warned such import taxes may drive up client costs.
“Costs may go up considerably, quick time period, however costs can even go down,” he mentioned within the Oval Workplace.
However he argued the coverage would increase American manufacturing and the nation could be “flooded with jobs”.
Trump has already positioned an extra 10% tariff on imports from China, citing its manufacturing of fentanyl, a lethal opioid that has stoked a US overdose epidemic.
He has additionally readied tariffs on Canada and Mexico, America’s two largest buying and selling companions, that might take impact in March after being suspended for 30 days.
On Monday, he eliminated exemptions from his 2018 metal and aluminum tariffs.