New Delhi: Flagging US President Donald Trump’s push for reciprocal tariffs, the Congress on Thursday said the Modi government must stand up to the “humiliation” and tell its American counterpart that such moves would not be acceptable to India as they would “destroy” the country’s economy.
At a press conference here, Congress leader Ajoy Kumar played video snippets from French President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting with Trump and also Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with the US president to claim that the Indian PM remained “mum” even when the US president was “speaking ill of India”.
“We have seen French President Emmanuel Macron correcting Trump in conversation and telling him he is wrong. On the other hand, in front of Narendra Modi, Trump kept speaking ill of India.
“He keeps calling India a tariff violator, we will impose reciprocal tariffs, but Narendra Modi remained silent,” Kumar said at the presser at the AICC office at 24, Akbar Road.
Kumar said Modi calls Trump his best friend but he “constantly tries to humiliate India”.
“The BJP people never get tired of calling Narendra Modi a ‘Vishwa Guru’ but when PM Modi went on a tour to America, Trump did not even come to receive PM Modi,” he said.
Flagging Trump’s push for reciprocal tariffs, Kumar said if tariffs are removed on items such as apples, the apple traders of Himachal will suffer. If the tariff on grapes is removed, then Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh will suffer, he added.
“At the same time, if tariffs on vehicles are removed, the Indian car market will suffer huge losses. Today, electronic goods are also coming to our country from China.
“If other goods also start coming from outside, then what will be manufactured in the country?” he said.
Kumar claimed that Trump tried to “humiliate” India over tariffs.
“But this government is so shameless that before going to America, the government reduced the customs duty on Harley Davidson and Tesla… The economy is in shambles under the Modi government,” he said.
Kumar claimed that the condition of the stock market is bad. People are standing at the same place where they started and they are continuously withdrawing their money from the market, he alleged.
“Due to reciprocal tariff, the country’s GDP will decline by 0.5 to 0.6 per cent, due to which the condition of the country will deteriorate… Narendra Modi is the enemy of the economy.
“First demonetisation, then flawed GST, unplanned lockdown and now this tariff (issue). Narendra Modi has ensured the destruction of the country,” he said.
If the economy continues in this manner, India will be weakened internally, he alleged.
Kumar urged the government to stand up to the US government and tell them that reciprocal tariffs are unacceptable.
“You saw the way Canada and Mexico reacted and the tariffs were dropped… India has to make a case, you have to engage with the Trump government, saying we will not accept it,” the Congress leader said.
Kumar also slammed the government over Trump reportedly allocating funds for Pakistan’s F-16 fleet maintenance.
“As soon as Narendra Modi returned from his US tour, it was announced by the US that around Rs 3,000 crore was being given to Pakistan for the maintenance of F-16. But our Foreign Ministry did not reply to this.
“The deal between America and Pakistan was that F-16 fighter jets would be used only against terrorism,” he said.
Even though it has been stated many times by Indian Army officials that Pakistan has used F-16 fighter jets against India, the Modi government has remained silent, Kumar alleged.
“America had exerted pressure on us many times in the past during the times of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, but India did not bow down,” he said.
Kumar posed questions to the government, asking why the Modi government did not protest when Trump gave a grant of over USD 350 million to Pakistan.
“Did the Modi government discuss F-35 with its experts or not? Why did the Modi government weaken the country and put it in danger?” he said.
Kumar said Elon Musk has called the F-35 substandard but PM Modi has not yet ruled out the F-35 deal.
“The Modi government also did not say that it will decide on this after discussing with Defence experts. The F-35 is not in the interest of this country.
“There have been consistent reports that its design and technology are not good. But to please Trump, Modi is not able to refuse this deal,” he claimed.
The Congress on Tuesday said reciprocal tariffs are a complete negation of all accepted principles of international trade and asserted that Modi should “summon the courage” to remind his “good friend that the T in WTO stands for Trade, not Trump”.
The opposition party’s assertion comes after Trump rolled out his plan to increase US tariffs to match the tax rates that other countries charge on imports, possibly triggering a broader economic confrontation with allies and rivals.
The US president has said his administration will “soon” impose reciprocal tariffs on countries such as India and China, reiterating what he had said during Prime Minister Modi’s recent visit to the US capital.
