India has 'enormously high' tariffs, White House economic adviser Hassett says
FILE PHOTO: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to U.S. President Donald Trump during a meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Al Drago/File Photo
WASHINGTON: India has high tariffs that lock out imports, US President Donald Trump's top economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday (Feb 10), adding that India's prime minister had a lot to discuss with Trump when the two leaders meet soon.
Trump believes the United States 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. Other countries, including Taiwan and India, had much higher rates.
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 has previously called India a "very big abuser" of 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 US exports in line with New Delhi's domestic production plans, three government officials said.
As the world's fourth-largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), India may push its oil companies to purchase more US, buoyed by the Trump administration's lifting of export permit bans for new projects.
Hassett told CNBC that Trump was concerned that the Biden administration had granted waivers from tariffs on steel and aluminium that were imposed during Trump's first term to ensure the US had sufficient steel production in the event of a war. "So steel capacity went way up, and then all of a sudden, there's waivers for this and waivers for that. There's hundreds and thousands of waivers," Hassett said. "So President Trump, as he can do, is like, 'Okay, so let's just stop the waivers, and he'll do so at a time of his choosing.'"
