Donald Trump’s trade deals: ‘Very close’ to India; smaller countries to face 10-15% US tariff
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that the country is on the brink of finalising a trade agreement with India, while discussions with the European Union are also moving in a positive direction.“We’re very close to India, and … we could possibly make a deal with (the) EU,” the US President said when asked about the status of ongoing trade talks.However, regarding Canada, he expressed similar views to that of Canadian PM Mark Carney, saying that it was still too early to tell if a deal would come through. Carney had earlier said that an agreement benefiting Canadian workers was still not in sight.“Too soon to say,” Trump said.The president also announced plans to send letters to over 150 countries, warning that their tariff rates could be raised to 10% or 15%.“We’ll have well over 150 countries that we’re just going to send a notice of payment out, and the notice of payment is going to say what the tariff” Bloomberg quoted the US President as saying.“It’s all going to be the same for everyone, for that group,” he said, further adding that these countries were “not major nations” and “don’t do much business” with the US.In an interview aired on Real America’s Voice , the US president said that negotiations are underway with several key partners as his team is pushing for improved terms ahead of a crucial 1 August deadline. From that date, tariffs on most US imports are expected to rise.“We have another one (deal) coming up, maybe with India… We’re in negotiation. When I send out a letter, that’s a deal… The best deal we can make is to send out a letter, and the letter says that you’ll pay 30%, 35%, 25%, 20%… We have some pretty good deals to announce… We’re very close to a deal with India where they open it up,” the president was quoted as saying by ANI.His comments come as EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic travels to Washington for fresh tariff discussions, and shortly after an Indian trade delegation also arrived in the US capital earlier this week.Trump had criticised the European Union’s earlier stance, saying, “The European Union has been brutal, and now they’re being very nice. They want to make a deal, and it’ll be a lot different than the deal that we’ve had for years.”Till now, the US has secured trade deals with the UK, Vietnam and Indonesia.Meanwhile, Donald Trump had issued numerous tariff notices to multiple countries over the past week. While the implementation date for reciprocal tariffs has been pushed from July 9 to August 1, over 20 countries have already been informed of the tariff rates that will apply to their exports to the US So far, India did not receive any such letter.
