Trump slams India's high tariffs, vows to charge reciprocal levies

U.S. President Donald Trump criticized on Thursday India's high tariffs, vowing that the United States would retaliate.

"We are right now a reciprocal nation," Trump said at a joint press conference with visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House after their meeting.

"Whatever charges, we're charging them. Whatever another country charges, we're charging them. So it's called reciprocal, which I think is a very fair way," said the U.S. leader.

Trump said it was "hard to sell into India because they have trade barriers."

"I had discussions with India in the first term (of office) about the fact that their tariffs were very high," Trump said. "And I was unable to get a concession. So we're just going to do it the easy way."

Trump's meeting with Modi followed his signing of a presidential memorandum on the "Fair and Reciprocal Plan" to impose "a reciprocal tariff" on U.S. trading partners.

The White House Fact Sheet on the plan included examples of "unfair" trade relations, including India's average applied Most Favored Nation tariff of 39 percent.

Trump also said that Washington will increase military sales to India.

"Starting this year, we will be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars. We are also paving the way to ultimately provide India with the F-35 stealth fighters," Trump told the joint press conference.

Trump did not provide a timeline or other details.

According to media reports, India has agreed to purchase over $20 billion of U.S. defense products since 2008.

Trump also said Modi has agreed to buy more U.S. oil and gas, possibly making the United States India's "number one supplier."

Ahead of Modi's visit, India has offered some concessions to alleviate trade tensions, including lowering tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

"We have also set ourselves the target of more than doubling our bilateral trade to attain $500 billion by 2030," Modi said at the press conference.