At G-7, Donald Trump Trains Guns at India on 100% Trade Tariff, Threatens to Abandon Trade

Quebec, June 11: United States President Donald Trump, while abruptly walking out of the G-7 summit in Canada's Quebec, trained his guns at India accusing the South Asian economy of charging 100 percent trade tariff on goods imported from the US.

Trump, who is rigorously pursuing the 'America First Policy', said he has a fixed target of eliminating al trade barriers which are detrimental to the interests of the US. If the "lopsided rules remain intact", Trump threatened he would abandon trade with a slew of nations dependent on the US market.

"We're like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing," Trump said, making his dissent with the G-7 members public. His delegation also refrained from conforming to the joint statement prepared by the participating nations of the elite group.

"Fair trade is now to be called fool trade if it is not reciprocal," the American President said, adding that under such a scenario, abandoning trade would be the "most profitable" choice for the US.

Specifically targeting India, Trump said, "This isn't just G7. I mean, we have India, where some of the tariffs are 100 per cent. A hundred per cent. And we charge nothing. We can't do that."

Trump had earlier lambasted India in public over the latter imposing 100 per cent duty on Harley-Davidson bikes imported from the US.

In response to the high tariff charged by New India, Trump had threatened to impose a reciprocal tax on the "thousands and thousands of bikes" imported from India.

Days after a conversation over the issue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump, the tariff on the premier bike was brought down to 50 per cent.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 11, 2018 02:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).