Donald Trump terms India ‘abuser’, but says will meet ‘fantastic’ PM Modi in US

Former US President Donald Trump announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet him next week during the latter’s upcoming three-day visit to the US. Despite criticising India as an “abuser” in terms of import tariffs, Trump referred to Modi as a “fantastic man.”

PM Modi is scheduled to visit the US from September 21 to 23. During his first public appearance since an apparent assassination attempt, Trump said on Tuesday, “He (Modi) happens to be coming to meet me next week, and Modi, he’s fantastic. I mean, fantastic man. A lot of these leaders are fantastic,” reiterating his concern over India’s high tariffs on imports.

Trump revealed this during a town hall in Flint, Michigan, while discussing trade and tariffs. He emphasised, “So when India, which is a very big abuser… These people are the sharpest people. They’re not a little bit backwards… You know the expression, they’re at the top of their game, and they use it against us. But India is very tough. Brazil is very tough…. China is the toughest of all, but we were taking care of China with the tariffs.”

The former president also outlined his stance on reciprocal trade, saying, “If anybody charges us 10 cents, if they charge us USD 2, if they charge us a hundred per cent, 250, we charge them the same thing. And what’s going to happen? Everything’s going to disappear, and we’re going to end up having free trade again. And if it doesn’t disappear, we’re going to take in a lot of money.”

Trump, who is in a close race for the White House against Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, did not offer additional details about the meeting.

The Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi did not respond to Trump’s remarks when asked for a comment.

PM Modi’s US trip will start with the Quad Leaders’ Summit, hosted by President Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware, alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Modi will also address a community event in Long Island on September 22, followed by an address at the Summit of the Future at the UN headquarters in New York on September 23.

Modi’s visit comes just under two months before the US presidential elections, with Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris running for the presidency. The general election is scheduled for November 5.

– With Inputs from PTI

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.