Ahead Of Meeting Modi, Trump Says ‘India Has Highest Tariffs, Very Hard Place To Do Business’ — WATCH

<p>Ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump on Thursday said India is a hard place to do business because of the tariffs.</p>
<p>Trump, while addressing reporters in the White House, said that New Delhi charges ‘tremendous tariffs’ and added that Tesla CEO Elon Musk met Modi because he wanted to do business in India.</p>
<p>The US President’s remarks came shortly after Modi’s <a href=”https://news.abplive.com/news/world/pm-modi-holds-meeting-with-tesla-ceo-elon-musk-in-washington-1751303″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>meeting with Elon Musk</a> and ahead of his <a href=”https://news.abplive.com/news/world/pm-modi-us-visit-live-updates-donald-trump-bilateral-meeting-tariffs-immigration-row-india-america-relationship-joint-press-conference-1751228″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>bilateral meet</a> with the Indian Prime Minister.</p>
<p>Speaking on Musk’s meeting with the Indian PM, Trump said, “I assume he wants to do business in India. But India is a very hard place to do business in because of the tariffs. They have the highest tariffs… It’s a hard place to do business.”</p>
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<p dir=”ltr” lang=”en”><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WATCH?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WATCH</a> | On the meeting between PM Narendra Modi and Elon Musk, US President Donald Trump says, “…They met. I assume he wants to do business in India. But India is a very hard place to do business in because of the tariffs. They have the highest tariffs…It’s a hard place to&hellip; <a href=”https://t.co/NZ0zKbmeCV”>pic.twitter.com/NZ0zKbmeCV</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1890133697556582900?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>February 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
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<p>”I would imagine he met possibly because he is running a company, he is doing this as something that he has felt strongly about for a long time,” he added.</p>
<p>Trump also cited the example of Harley Davidson, an American motorcycle manufacturer, saying that the company couldn’t sell their motorbikes in India due to the high taxes.</p>
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<p dir=”ltr” lang=”en”><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WATCH?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WATCH</a> | US President Donald Trump says, “…Traditionally, India is right at the top of the pack pretty much. There are a couple of smaller countries that are actually more but India charges tremendous tariffs. I remember when Harley Davidson couldn’t sell their motorbikes in&hellip; <a href=”https://t.co/7tZ1qjLvr0”>pic.twitter.com/7tZ1qjLvr0</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1890126886724071919?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>February 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
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<p>”Traditionally, India is right at the top of the pack pretty much. There are a couple of smaller countries that are actually more but India charges tremendous tariffs. I remember when Harley Davidson couldn’t sell their motorbikes in India because of the fact that in India – the tax was so high, the tariff was so high, and Harley was forced to build,” he said.</p>
<p>”But I think they built a factory in India in order to avoid paying the tariffs. And that’s what people can do with us. They can build a factory here, a plant or whatever it may be here and that includes the medical, that includes cars, that includes chips and semiconductors,” Trump further said.</p>
<p>Speaking on his bilateral meeting with PM Modi, Trump said, “India traditionally is just about the highest tariff country, they charge more tariffs than any other country. Whatever they charge us, we are charging them.”</p>