US President Donald Trump on Thursday told Breitbart News that he believes that India will probably be lowering the tariffs it imposes on American goods. He further maintained that the US administration will impose the same charges on India, starting April 2. In an interview with Breitbart News, Donald Trump said, “I believe they’re probably going to be lowering those tariffs substantially, but on April 2, we will be charging them the same tariffs they charge us.”

Asked about his recent meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump said that he has a ‘very good relationship’ with India. “I have a very good relationship with India, but the only problem I have with India is they’re one of the highest tariffing nations in the world,” he added.

When Breitbart News asked about the India-Middle East-Europe-Economic Corridor (IMEC), Donald Trump said that it was a “group of wonderful nations” banding together “countering other countries that look to hurt us on trade”.

“We have a powerful group of partners in trade. Again, we can’t let those partners treat us badly, however. We do better in many ways frankly with our foes than we do with our friends. The ones that wouldn’t be as friendly to us in some cases treat us better than the ones that are supposed to be friendly, like the European Union, which treats us terribly on trade. India and everybody would think of them as an ally. I can say the same for others. But this is a group of wonderful nations that is countering other countries that look to hurt us on trade,” he said during the interview.

Trump had announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs just weeks into his second term as the US president. He has often referred to India as the “tariff king” due to high tariffs imposed by India on American goods. 

India, meanwhile, hopes to negotiate a mutually beneficial, multi-sector bilateral trade agreement (BTA) to fend off Trump’s reciprocal tariff regime. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was in Washington earlier this month for negotiations with the US secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick and the United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.