India stares at a Harley-Davidson moment as Trump 2.0 looms
Donald Trump, he has got a clear lead over his rival President Joe Biden for the November presidential elections. While Trump's re-election will be seen as favourable for India given his chemistry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his stance on Russia and China, there are concerns that a Trump presidency might be challenging for India on trade and tariffs.
Trump's tit-for-tat stance for India
Iconic Harley-Davidson motorcycle became Trump's reference point for criticising what he saw as a lopsided trade relation with India. Last year, Trump again raked up the issue of high tax by India on certain American products, in particular the Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and threatened to slap reciprocal tax if voted to power again.
During his first term as the US president, Trump described India as a «tariff king» and in May 2019, terminated India's preferential market access — Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) — to the United States alleging India has not given the United States «equitable and reasonable access to its markets.» Trump had also raised import duty on Indian steel and aluminium products. India too raised import duties on several American products.
In an interview in August last year, Trump came down heavily on India tax rates, which he alleged were quite high. «The other thing I want to have is a matching tax where, if India charges us — India is very big with tariffs. I mean, I saw it with Harley-Davidson. I was saying, how do you do in a place like India? Oh, no good sir. Why? They have 100 per
