US President Donald
Trump has said that it was impossible for Tesla CEO Elon Musk to sell his cars
in India because of the high import tariffs and if he were to build a factory
to manufacture vehicles in the country, that would be unfair to the US. Alleging that India just about charged the
highest tariffs in the world, Trump warned that the US would deal with this in
a very fair way by charging the country as much tariffs as it was charging the
US.
“...now, if he built
the factory in India, that’s okay, but that’s unfair to us. It’s very unfair,”
Trump said in a joint interview with Musk to Fox News.
Trump complained that every country in the world
took advantage of the US, and they did it with tariffs. He cited India’s tariffs on automobiles as an
example. “They make it impossible for him (Musk) to sell a car, practically,
in, as an example, India,” he said.
Musk, who not only is
the top producer of EVs, but also heads the US Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE), confirmed that India’s tariffs on automobiles were as high
as 100 per cent. Trump said that he had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
his meeting in Washington DC that he would charge India as much tariffs as
India charged the US. He added that he
was doing this with every country.
Trump’s criticism of
the possibility of Musk building a Tesla plant in India follows Modi’s meeting
with the billionaire in Washington DC during his two-day visit.
There have been reports on Musk’s renewed interests
in India as Tesla
recently put out advertisements seeking candidates for 13 positions across
Mumbai and Delhi. These jobs include customer service, vehicle
maintenance, sales, business operations, and marketing...