“Make India Great Again.” Those are the only four words Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in English at the end of an interview with Donald Trump at the White House. India’s leader rushed to make amends in Washington to try to avoid the tariffs imposed earlier in the day by the U.S. president.
Ignoring the risk of rising inflation, Trump presented a plan to implement reciprocal tariffs to match those of trading partners “so that we are treated fairly with other countries. It’s fair to everyone.” Duties will be customized from state to state. The President has no problem reminding his guest that “whatever India charges, we charge them,” criticizing India’s very high import taxes.
Despite trade tariffs, the U.S. will increase military sales to India “by many billions,” according to Trump’s promises. “I am paving the way to provide F-35 stealth fighters,” planes not included in previous agreements signed by the Biden administration. In return, New Delhi will secure state-of-the-art technologies.
Modi promised to take back all of the more than 725,000 Indian immigrants who are in the United States without authorization, the third-largest number in attendance after Mexico and El Salvador. Trump also approved the extradition to India of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, convicted in 2011 for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai bombing.
