Reciprocal tariff turmoil

Trump and Lutnick's recent comments make India's task of clinching a bilateral trade deal really tough

- 

LIKE OTHER NATIONS, India has to navigate through the turbulence and disruption of a global tariff war triggered by US President Donald Trump. In his address to the joint session of the US Congress this week, he criticised the high tariffs levied by India and other countries as "unfair" and announced reciprocal tariffs from April 2. "Whatever they tax us, we will tax them. If they use non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we will use non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market," Trump stated. The US President's weaponisation of tariffs should not come as a surprise to India as he ordered his administration to prepare reciprocal tariffs on trading partners headed by India barely hours before his one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House last month. India hopes to negotiate a mutually beneficial, multi-sector bilateral trade agreement (BTA) this autumn to fend off Trump's reciprocal tariffs.