Trump's Tariff Deadline Is 'Liberation' Or 'Yoke'?

India's trade officials are putting up a brave front and hoping to reach a broad bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with a visiting US team next week.

- GURBIR SINGH

India's trade officials are putting up a brave front and hoping to reach a broad bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with a visiting US team next week. This, they say, will help ward off a slew of punishing tariffs that are due to kick in on April 2, next month. Privately, they know there is little chance to deflect Donald Trump's tariff blitzkrieg.

The first round of tariffs on aluminum and steel imposed on Mexico, Canada and China have been roiling US and Asian markets; and consumer confidence in the U.S. has plummeted. This has not deterred Trump. He has repeatedly said 'tariffing' friend and foe is the panacea to generate billions and bring back industries to the mid-west American 'rust belt'.

Answering reporters' questions on an Air Force One flight a few days ago, he called April 2 'Liberation Day'. "It's a liberation day for our country because we're going to be getting back a lot of the wealth that we so foolishly gave up to other countries," he said. To questions whether he would ease up tariffs considering the anxieties about its inflationary effects, he said 'no'.

Though Donald Trump's flip-flops are legend, he has been steady on his view that India is preventing the entry of US goods using the highest tariffs in the world. Either countries like India come to heel and reduce tariffs, or they face a new regime of equivalent tariffs from April 2.