India offering US a zero tariff trade deal: Trump

Doha (Qatar): President Donald Trump has suggested that India has offered to drop tariffs on US goods to zero, something not immediately acknowledged by New Delhi. Trump made the comments during a business roundtable in Doha, Qatar, on his Mideast tour, first discussing Apple’s plans to build manufacturing plants for its iPhone there.

“It’s very hard to sell into India and they’ve offered us a deal with what basically they’re willing to literally charge us no tariff,” Trump said during a meeting with business executives in Qatar’s capital Doha where he is on a state visit. However, Trump did not offer any further details. India and the US resolved to deepen the US-India trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation. To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade – ‘Mission 500’ -- aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.

India is a close partner of the US and is part of the Quad, which is made up of the US, India, Japan and Australia, and is seen as a counterbalance to China’s expansion in the region. The US President also said that he told Apple CEO Tim Cook to give up his plan of setting up more manufacturing facilities in India and focus on building these plants in the US instead.