‘US close to making trade pact with India’, says Trump as he slaps tariff on 14 nations

After announcing steep tariffs on at least 14 countries, US President Donald Trump on Monday (July 7) said America is close to making a trade deal with India. He also said that the US is going to send a letter to countries where tariff talks fell through.

“Now, we've made a deal with the United Kingdom, we've made a deal with China….We're close to making a deal with India. Others we met with and we don't think we're going to be able to make a deal, so we just send them a letter. If you want to play ball, this is what you have to pay,” Trump said.

Also read: Trump announces 25 pc tariffs on Japan, South Korea; warns against retaliation

Letters to 14 nations

The remarks came as the Trump administration sent out the first tranche of “letters” to various countries Monday detailing the tariffs that the US will impose on products from those countries entering America.

The countries that got these letters, signed by Trump, were Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand and Tunisia.

“We're sending out letters to various countries telling them how much tariffs they have to pay,” Trump said.

‘Ripping the US’

He added that the countries were “ripping” the US and “were charging us tariffs at levels that nobody's ever seen before". We have some countries that were charging 200 per cent tariffs and making it impossible to do business.

“And what the tariffs are doing is they're driving people in and companies into the United States,” he said while speaking to reporters ahead of a bilateral dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House on Monday.

Also read: Timeline of India-US mini-trade deal: Trump, Modi and 3 months of talks

‘Stopped India-Pak conflict’

Trump also repeated the claim that he stopped the war between India and Pakistan by telling the two neighbours that Washington would not do trade with them if they continued the fighting.

“We did a job with India and Pakistan, Serbia, Kosovo, Rwanda and the Congo, and this was all over the last three weeks or so… and others that were ready to fight,” Trump said.

“And we stopped a lot of fights. I think the very big one, frankly, a very, very big one, was India and Pakistan. And we stopped that over trade," he said.

"We said we're not going to be dealing with you at all if you're going to fight. And they were maybe at a nuclear stage. They're both nuclear powers. And I think stopping that was very important,” Trump added.

Also read: Ball in Washington's court on India-US trade deal before July 9: Sources

On Russia-Ukraine war

Trump went on to say that the US is trying to help out with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, calling it a (Joe) “Biden-created monster”.

“This whole thing that's happening with Russia and Ukraine, horrible, it's a horrible thing. And I'm not happy with Russian President (Vladimir) Putin at all. But this is something that would have never happened if I were president. This is a war that was never going to happen,” Trump said.

Nobel Prize aspirations

At the dinner, Netanyahu presented Trump with a letter that he had sent to the Nobel Prize Committee nominating Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Previously, Trump has bemoaned that he won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the war between India and Pakistan or for his efforts in the Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Iran conflicts. Since May 10, Trump has repeated more than a dozen times his claim that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan and that he told the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours that America will do a “lot of trade” with them if they stop the conflict.

Also read: Going to send tariff letters to countries from Friday, July 4, says Trump

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May 10.

New Delhi has been maintaining that India's fierce counter-attack that day forced Pakistan to plead for ending the hostilities.

(With inputs from agencies)