The Trump shocker: How Modi should respond

With US President Donald Trump imposing a hefty 25 per cent tariffs on Indian exports to America will India buckle or fightback?

Transcript

00:00What are the implications of the latest set of tariffs that Trump has imposed on India

00:04starting August 1st? I can see only one reason that he wants India to do a trade deal very

00:10desperately. I see this as a pause in in the negotiations a small comma not the full stop

00:19just a pressure tactics for which Trump is now too well known. So if you take a look at what are

00:24the sticky points that have been there and what really has you know in some senses been a deal

00:29postpone or not a breakers yet. We don't have any problems in opening industrial products so that

00:35should ideally solve the trade deficit and high tariff problem of the Trump but that's not solving

00:41so we feel what is remaining is agriculture and dairy that's that's insignificant as far as trade

00:47of America to us is concerned but that's one major sticking point for for them. He says India has

00:54high non-tariff barriers what is non-tariff barriers for them all countries impose non-tariff barriers

01:00and what is non-tariff barriers for them for example that India does not allow import of say butter

01:08which comes out of the milk of a cow which has been fed the meat of another cow internal organs of

01:16other cow blood of another cow. We religious factor or cultural factor we we can't consume. One of the

01:23things that you that the Trump has been pushing for is their genetically modified or GM foods crops that

01:31are there. We are not alone in opposing this European Union they they don't allow the import of most of

01:38the GM crop. A decision on GM crop cannot be taken for us it has to be taken India's India's decision if we

01:46are allowing it we are allowing it for all countries and it cannot be open only for US and not for others

01:53and one immediate disadvantage of opening is that we have large agree exports to EU it will become zero

02:00immediately. What should India's strategy be now? Many steps to help American firms in the last budget we

02:08cut tariffs say on satellite parts on on at least 20 items which are of use to the US so we are helping

02:15them we have we are allowing their nuclear reactor suppliers into India for the first time we have

02:24allowed Tesla Starlink to start operation in India these are very critical operations so many security

02:30concerns are there but we have ignored those things to please us and now operations of Starlink in India

02:39it's not that we don't want to mend ways we we know they are our serious partner they are our top export

02:45partner then we are prepared to eliminate tariffs on 95 percent of our exports their exports to India

02:52only five percent remaining hypothetically if you cut your tariffs on everything on wheat rice

02:59agriculture it's not going to satisfy he'll come for more he will say don't do local currency trading

03:06don't do trade with this don't buy from here don't do that so what should we be doing this is not a

03:11breakdown of the negotiations India should hold its ground there are certain red lines that India has

03:17particularly with agriculture and maybe you know small-scale industries or where whichever is dependent

03:23on domestic purchases that you do not relent on that some people are talking that the US is imposing so

03:32much tariffs we should retaliate I say no there is no time this is no time for retaliate they will be

03:38taking many more such actions the way trump acts let's wait