"Why should we stop at 17%? We should also raise it to 50%" says Shashi Tharoor on US tariffs

New Delhi, August 07: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said that India should also raise tariffs on American goods to 50 per cent in response to the US imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian exports.

Tharoor questioned why India should stop at the current 17 per cent tariff and emphasised that the country should not be intimidated by such actions. He also said that no country should be allowed to threaten India in this manner.

Speaking to the reporters, Shashi Tharoor said, "It will definitely have an impact because we have a trade of $90 billion with them, and if everything becomes 50% more expensive, buyers will also think why should they buy Indian things?... If they do this, we should also impose a 50% tariff on American exports... It is not that any country can threaten us like this..."

"Our average tariffs on American goods are 17%. Why should we stop at 17%? We should also raise it to 50%... We need to ask them, do they not value our relationship? If India doesn't matter to them, they should also not matter to us," he added.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order on August 6 imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India. Trump cited matters of national security and foreign policy concerns, as well as other relevant trade laws, for the increase, claiming that India's imports of Russian oil, directly or indirectly, pose an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States.
Terming the United States' move to impose additional tariffs on India over its oil imports from Russia as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) declared that New Delhi will take "all actions necessary to protect its national interests.

In further development, a senior United States Administration Official said that there is simply "no comparison" between the hundreds of billions of dollars of growing Indian imports of Russian oil and the modest US imports of Russian goods.

In response to a question, the US official said, "There is simply no comparison between the hundreds of billions of dollars of growing Indian imports of Russian oil, and the modest U.S. imports of Russian goods, which amount to less than 1% of the value of Indian imports".