India has ‘enormously high’ tariffs, White House’s Hassett says

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By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – India has “enormously high” tariffs that lock out imports, U.S. President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday, adding that India’s prime minister had a lot to discuss with Trump when the two leaders meet soon.

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Trump believed the U.S. should impose reciprocal tariffs that are at least equal to those imposed by other countries, Hassett said in an interview with CNBC, adding, “If they go down, we’ll go down.”

“Almost every trading partner has much higher tariffs than we do,” he said, noting that Canada, Mexico and Britain had tariffs in the same range as the United States.

Reuters reported earlier on Monday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is preparing additional tariff cuts ahead of a two-day visit to Washington from Wednesday.

Trump plans announce new 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. on Monday, on top of existing metals duties, and reciprocal tariffs on Tuesday or Wednesday, to take effect almost immediately.

Trump has previously called India a “very big abuser” on trade and urged it to buy more American-made security equipment to move towards a fair two-way trading relationship.

India is considering tariff cuts in at least a dozen sectors, from electronics to medical equipment and chemicals, to boost U.S. exports in line with New Delhi’s domestic production plans, three government officials said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Susan Heavey; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Christina Fincher)

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