WASHINGTON: White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt targeted India on Monday for imposing a 100% tariff on U.S. agricultural products, warning that President Donald Trump’s administration would enforce reciprocal tariffs starting April 2 with no exemptions.
Leavitt said such ‘unfair trade practices’ need to be stopped.
Holding a piece of paper that showed the tariffs imposed by the European Union, India, Japan, and Canada on U.S. products, the White House spokesperson told reporters: “If you look at the unfair trade practices that we have, a 50% tariff from the European Union on American dairy. You have a 700% tariff from Japan on American rice. You have a 100% tariff from India on American agricultural products.”
“You have nearly a 300% tariff from Canada on American butter and American cheese,” she said.
She said the tariff makes it ‘virtually impossible’ to import US products into these countries.
“It puts a lot of Americans out of business and out of work over the past several decades,” she said.