Former US President Donald Trump
Detroit: Former US President Donald Trump vowed to introduce a reciprocal tax if elected to power and claimed that India, among all the major countries, imposes the highest tariffs on foreign products on Thursday. Addresing the public in Detroit during major economic policy speech, Trump said, “Perhaps the most important element of my plan to make America extraordinarily wealthy again is reciprocity. It’s a word that’s very important in my plan because we generally don’t charge tariffs. I started that process, it was so great, with the vans and the small trucks, etc. We really don’t charge. China will charge us a 200 per cent tariff. Brazil is a big charger. The biggest charger of all is India.”
He stated, “India is a very big charger. We have a great relationship with India. I did. And especially the leader, Modi. He’s a great leader. Great man. Really is a great man. He’s brought it together. He’s done a great job. But they probably charge as much.”
Talking to the members of the Detroit Economic Club, Trump added, “I mean, I think they probably charge more than, in many ways, China. But they do it with a smile. They do it… Sort of a nicer charge. They said, thank you so much for purchasing from India. Harley Davidson came to the White House a long time ago during my third year or second year. I met with them. They were based in Wisconsin. I said, how’s business? Good, good. What are the bad countries? Well, India is very tough. And they gave me some others. Why? Tariffs. I said, what are they? And they said like 150 per cent, some massive amount.”
He further added, “I said so do you sell many motorcycles because you think people want to buy a Harley. No, we sell very few in India, but they want us to go there. They said, if you go there and build your plant there, we’re not going to charge you anything. I mean, you can do whatever you want. I said I don’t like that. And I see they went, they built the plant, and now they do their business with India. They probably do it outside of India too. They built a very big plant in many countries, they do that. Then all of a sudden, you hear that they’re leaving Milwaukee or they’re leaving wherever they may be located.”
These statements came a few days after Trump praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, describing him as “the nicest human being.” He said the Indian leader is “a friend of mine.”
“Modi, India. He’s a friend of mine. He’s great. Before him, they were replacing them every year. It’s very unstable. He came over. He’s a friend of mine. But on the outside, he looks like he’s your father. He’s the nicest, but he’s a total killer,” he said.
Trump reminisced about Modi’s 2019 visit to Houston for the ‘Howdy Modi’ event, saying, “It was beautiful. It’s like 80,000 people going crazy. We were walking around.” The Republican candidate mentioned having a “very good relationship” with Modi.
Recalling instances when India was under threat, Trump said, “I told Modi, let me help as I am very good with those people.” To this, Modi firmly responded, “I will do it. I will do it. And I would do anything necessary. We have defeated them for hundreds of years.” Trump added, “I said, ‘Whoa, what just happened there.'”
(With PTI Inputs)
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