"Nobody can argue with me:" Trump on reciprocal tariffs with India

US President Donald Trump has made it clear to PM Narendra Modi that India will not be given a free pass when it comes to reciprocal tariffs, PTI noted citing a Fox interview. 

In a recent interview with Fox News (19 February), he said "nobody can argue with me" on the tariff structure. The American President announced reciprocal tariffs on February 13, hours before the Indian PM's bilateral meeting with him. 

Under the plan, the Trump administration “will work strenuously to counter non-reciprocal trading arrangements with trading partners by determining the equivalent of a reciprocal tariff with respect to each foreign trading partner.”

During the interview with Fox News' Hannity, Trump reiterated his stance on existing tariff structures between the U.S. and its partners, including India. Fox News aired a joint television interview with President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday night (February 19, 2025).

India has very strong tariffs on certain imports from the U.S., like in the automobile sector and India charges 100%.

Under the reciprocal tariff system, the U.S. would impose the same level of tariffs on Indian imports as India does on American goods. “Nobody can argue with me,” President Trump insisted.

During PM Modi’s visit to the U.S., while responding to a question on reciprocal tariffs on India, Mr. Trump said, “India has been, to us, just about the highest tariffed nation anywhere in the world. They’ve been very strong on tariffs, and I don’t blame them, necessarily, but it’s a different way of doing business. It’s very hard to sell to India because they have trade barriers and very strong tariffs.”

“We are right now a reciprocal nation. Whatever another country charges, we’re charging them. So, it’s called reciprocal, which I think is a very fair way. We didn’t have that,” Trump said.