Tariffs Are Increasingly Becoming A Political Weapon For Trump
A day after charging India with a 25 per cent tariff and penalty for buying military equipment and oil from Russia, Trump on Wednesday (US time) said Russia and India can take their “dead economies down together”
Chennai: Imposition of tariffs which started as a measure by the US President Donald Trump to correct trade imbalances of his country, is increasingly becoming a platform to settle political scores. India, Russia, Brazil, and Canada are now at the receiving end.
A day after charging India with a 25 per cent tariff and penalty for buying military equipment and oil from Russia, Trump on Wednesday (US time) said Russia and India can take their “dead economies down together”.
“I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India, their tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World. Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way, and tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!,” he warned.
He also dragged India into his statement while talking about a deal with Pakistan. “We have just concluded a deal with the country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive oil reserves. We are in the process of choosing the oil company that will lead this partnership. Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling oil to India some day!” he said.
Indian industry was not happy about bringing political issues into trade. “It is unfortunate that political issues have become part of the trade talks. It is also not fair to put tariffs on our energy and defence needs. The principle of penalty sends the wrong message,” said Pankaj Chadha, chairman, EEPC. However, India will continue the trade talks.
Meanwhile, Trump also signed an executive order to impose 50 per cent tariffs on Brazil and the rationale behind it was Brazil's policies and criminal prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro. However, civil aircraft and parts, aluminium, tin, wood pulp, energy products, and fertilisers are among the products being excluded from the tariff.
He did not spare Canada either. “Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a trade deal with them,” he said.
Earlier, Trump had threatened additional tariffs on BRICS nations to protect the dominance of the US dollar and a 500 per cent tariff on countries buying oil from Russia.
