India tariffs on US: Trump argued with Lutnick over 'bullshit numbers', says new book
As per the book, Trump believed India was imposing extremely high tariffs, around 175 per cent on US products, and was far above the actual figures recorded by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)
US President Donald Trump had a verbal spat with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over the tariffs imposed by India on American goods and termed the official numbers as “bullshit”, according to a new book.
In the book "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump", written by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, the US President was quoted as saying, "Nobody has f***ing given me any numbers. Hard facts of how much China tariffs us, how much India tariffs us. You give me bullshit numbers."
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As per the book, Trump believed India was imposing extremely high tariffs, around 175 per cent on US products, and was far above the actual figures recorded by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
USTR numbers
The book said that when Lutnick presented the USTR’s official numbers, Trump rejected them and refused to accept. However, Lutnick insisted, "No, these are the real numbers! They come from USTR."
Lutnick turned to US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer and said: “Right, Jamieson? Jamieson, say these numbers are real. Jamieson, speak up.” However, Greer chose to remain silent.
According to reports, the argument between Trump and Lutnick happened in a meeting at the White House before the US imposed a 25 per cent tariff on India as part of its “Liberation Day” trade in April last year.
Later, in August 2025, Trump hit India with 50 per cent tariffs, increasing 25 per cent more, accusing New Delhi of "fuelling Putin's war in Ukraine" due to its purchase of Russian crude.
India-US trade deal
On February 10 this year, India and the US agreed for a trade deal. According to it, President Trump agreed to remove the additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India in recognition of India’s commitment to stop purchasing Russian Federation oil.
“Accordingly, the President signed an Executive Order last Friday removing that additional 25% tariff,” a fact sheet from the White House said.
As per the fact sheet, India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains (DDGs), red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products.
“India intends to buy more American products and purchase over $500 billion of U.S. energy, information and communication technology, coal, and other products,” it added.