India Has Offered Trade Deal With Zero Tariffs, Claims Trump

New Delhi: A day before Union Minister Piyush Goyal and a delegation of top negotiators' visit to Washington for talks on the proposed India-US trade deal, US President Donald Trump claimed India has offered a trade deal with zero tariffs.

Trump made the comments during a business roundtable in Doha, Qatar, on his Mideast tour. “It’s very hard to sell into India and and they’ve offered us a deal with what basically they’re willing to literally charge us no tariff,” Trump said. India is a close partner of the US and is part of the Quad, which is made up of the US, India, Japan and Australia, and is seen as a counterbalance to China’s expansion in the region.

In response, India, without directly naming the US or Trump, called the remarks premature. "Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial. It has to work for both countries. That would be our expectation from any trade deal. Until that is done, any judgement will be premature," said External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar. The minister said such negotiations are 'complicated', and take time. "Nothing is decided till everything is," he added.

Earlier on the day, Trump said that he had spoken with Apple CEO Tim Cook and asked him to limit Apple's expansion in India.

"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday. I said to him, my friend, I am treating you very good. You are coming up with $500 billion but now I hear you are building all over India. I don't want you building in India. You can build in India, if you want to take care of India because India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world, so it is very hard to sell in India," President Trump said while addressing a news conference in Doha, Qatar.

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