New Delhi [India], April 3 : Following US President Donald Trump's announcement of tariffs, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor highlighted how the tariffs could affect the automobile sector, particularly the trade of automobile parts.
Tharoor also expressed optimism that trade negotiations over the coming months can lead to a more favorable agreement.
Speaking to ANI, Tharoor said, "We are not selling many automobiles in America, but automobile parts are a major factor and that would be affected, and the first victims are going to be American manufacturers who would be buying Indian parts. So that's not very good for us, that's not very good for them, and that's not very good for the American consumers."
He added, "I hope that in the negotiations over the next nine months, we have time till September-October for a trade agreement, I hope that our negotiators will do a good job in trying to get something better than this."
Trump announced new import tariffs on Wednesday (local time), outlining the rates to be imposed on countries around the world, with India facing a 26 per cent tariff.
Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "great friend," Trump said that India charges the US 52 per cent, and "we charge them almost nothing."
Trump's announcement came while he addressed the Make America Wealthy Again Event.
At the event, Trump said, "India very, very tough. The Prime Minister just left and is a great friend of mine, but you are not treating us right. They charge us 52 per cent, and we charge them almost nothing..."
Trump further said, "The United States charges other countries only a 2.4 tariff on motorcycles. Meanwhile, Thailand and others are charging much higher prices like 60%, India charges 70%, Vietnam charges 75% and others are even higher than that."
The US President further said that a 25 per cent tariff would be imposed on all foreign-made automobiles.
"Such horrendous imbalances have devastated our industrial base and put our national security at risk. I don't blame these other countries at all for this calamity. I blame former presidents and past leaders who weren't doing their job... Effective at midnight, we will impose a 25% tariff on all foreign-made automobiles," Trump said.
The import tariffs on other major countries are China (34 per cent), European Union (20 per cent), Vietnam (46 per cent), Taiwan (32 per cent), Japan (24 per cent), India (26 per cent), United Kingdom (10 per cent), Bangladesh (37 per cent), Pakistan (29 per cent), Sri Lanka (44 per cent), Israel (17 per cent).