Trump Interview: A few days ago, the BJP was ecstatic over US President Donald Trump’s “Modi is a tougher and better negotiator than me” remark. Trump made the remark during a press conference during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the US. The Congress, too, mocked PM Modi for not showing “red eyes” (an allusion to his comment during ex-PM Manmohan Singh’s visit to China) to Trump for “insulting India”.
Now, in an interaction with Fox News, Trump and Elon Musk revealed how the “negotiations” on reciprocal tariffs between him and PM Modi went about.
“He is a much tougher negotiator than me…”: President @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/cfTtGSSBoU
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) February 14, 2025
In the transcript of the interaction released by the White House, Trump said that he had no clue that “India charged so much [tariff]”. “…every country in the world takes advantage of us, and they do it with tariffs. They make it it’s impossible for him [Musk] to sell a car practically in, as an example, India,” Trump said. “The tariffs are … like … 100% import duty,” Musk chimed in.
“The tariffs are so high… now, if he built the [Tesla] factory in India, that’s okay. But that’s unfair to us,” Trump added.
What Did Trump Tell Modi When Imposing Reciprocal Tariffs?
Trump said he told PM Modi that he was offering a “fair” deal to India. “’You know what we do? I told Prime Minister Modi yesterday — he was here. I said ‘Here’s what you do. We’re going to do — be very fair with you.’ They charge the highest tariffs in the world, just about,” he said.
Musk then said auto imports to India are charged nearly 100%.
Trump continued: “I said ‘Here’s what we’re going to do: reciprocal. Whatever you charge, I’m charging.’ He [Modi] goes ‘No, no, I don’t like that’. No, no, whatever you charge, I’m going to charge. I’m doing that with every country… Nobody can argue with me.”
Musk said: “It needs to be at a level playing field and — and fair and square.”
