The Congress on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take Parliament into confidence on US President Donald Trump’s claims that India has agreed to cut its tariffs.The opposition party’s general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh asked whether the interests of Indian farmers and manufacturers are being compromised.”Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is in Washington DC to talk trade with the Americans. Meanwhile, President Trump says this…,” he said in a post on X, tagging a video of the US president speaking on trade tariffs.US President Donald Trump said India has agreed to cut its tariffs “way down” as he reiterated his claim that the country charges America massive tariffs that make it difficult to sell products there.Ramesh said, “What has the Modi Government agreed to? Are the interests of Indian farmers and of Indian manufacturing being compromised? The PM must take Parliament into confidence when it resumes on March 10.” Both houses of Parliament will meet on Monday as the second part of the budget session resumes.Trump has been threatening several countries with reciprocal trade tariffs ever since he assumed charge as US President. He criticised India’s high tariffs for the third time this week, ahead of Washington’s reciprocal tariffs on New Delhi set to take effect on April 2.In the video shared by Ramesh on X, Trump is heard saying, “Our country, from an economic standpoint and a financial standpoint and a trade standpoint, has been absolutely ripped off by almost every country in the world — Canada, Mexico, and then you just go right down the line.” “India charges us massive tariffs. You can’t even sell anything in India…It is restrictive. We do very little business inside. They’ve agreed. By the way, they want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody is finally exposing them for what they’ve done,” Trump goes on to say in the clip.Last month, Trump said that he warned PM Modi that “India will not be spared” from Washington’s reciprocal tariffs, emphasising that “nobody can argue with me” on tariff structure.On February 13, hours before Modi’s bilateral meeting with Trump in the White House, the US President announced reciprocal tariffs.(With inputs from PTI)
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