The White House’s consultant Peter Navarro explained on Thursday why the United States targeted India with 50% tariff for the purchase of Russian oil and not China, even though it bought more oil than India.
“They (China) were not focused on it. Why, then, India has these tariffs?” The reporter asked.
In response, Navarro said that the US wanted to store tariffs to China without hurting their own economy.
“As the boss says, we’ll see what happens. Keep in mind that we already have more than 50 percent of tariffs to China. We have more than 50 percent of tariffs to China, so we don’t want to get to the point where we really hurt. And I think I gave a really good answer,” Navarro said.
His statement came after Trump’s administration issued an executive order that imposed another 25 % tariff to India for imports of oil from Russia, which reached 50 % on Indian goods.
“We settled at 25 percent, but I think I am very much raising it in the next 24 hours because they buy Russian oil,” Trump said on Tuesday in an interview of CNBC.
Another 25 % tariff in India would enter into force 21 days after signing the order, which means that India and Russia may have time to negotiate with the administration of import taxes.
“Indian tariffs very different from mutual tariffs”
By justifying a 50% tariff on Indian goods of the United States, he said on Thursday that “the justification of Indian tariffs is very different from mutual tariffs”.
In a statement C-SpanHe explained that the tariff on Indian products coming to the US “was a net problem of national security associated with the refusal of India to stop buying Russian oil”.
“Maharaja of the tariffs”
Navarro criticized the Indian business practices and called it “Maharaja tariffs” to maintain some of the highest tariffs and non -tariff barriers for American goods.
“You start by India is Maharaja tariffs,” he said. The White House official noted that President Donald Trump triggered a clear boundary between economic and national security.
Navarro continued to emphasize the “connection between economic security and national security”.
“This must stop. This mathematics does not work. The President understands the connection between economic security and national security. So it was the lower limit,” Navarro said.
(Tagstotranslate) American tariff on Indian goods
