White House press secretary criticises India’s tariff on alcohol, agriculture products

 Leavitt’s outburst against India’s tariffs was not accurate as India’s average applied agriculture tariffs are much lower at 39 per cent. Moreover, while Indian tariffs on alcohol are indeed 150 per cent, Bourbon attracts a lower tariff of 100 per cent after cuts were announced in this year’s Union Budget. “...Look at India, 150 per cent tariff on American alcohol. Do you think that’s helping Kentucky Bourbon be exported to India? I don’t think so. 100 per cent tariff on agricultural products from India...President Trump believes in reciprocity and it is about dang time that we have a president who actually looks out for the interests of American businesses and workers…,” Leavitt said on Tuesday (11 Mar ’25) at a briefing. She also criticised Canada for charging high tariffs on butter and Japan for charging high tariffs on rice.

The press secretary mentioned reciprocity as a reminder of Trump’s planned announcement of reciprocal tariffs on countries that charge high tariffs on April 2.

India has initiated negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the US for a “mutually beneficial” trade pact which it hopes will help it to avoid Trump’s reciprocal tariff plans. But there is immense push from Washington, DC, to make it a pact where tariffs on all products would be reduced or eliminated, including agricultural products. Late last week, following Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s conclusion of his visit to the US for trade talks, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that India must have a broad scale trade pact with the US instead of going product by product. “Let us bring India’s tariff policy towards America down,” he said.

India’s tariffs on US goods are a higher 15.30 per cent (2022) than US tariffs on Indian products at around 3.83 per cent. Leavitt’s focused mention of India’s tariffs in Tuesday’s briefing may be viewed as part of the Trump government’s larger strategy to portray India as a bigger tariff charger than it actually was in an attempt to mount more pressure on it.

 Leavitt’s failure to acknowledge the recent import tariff reduction on Bourbon by India and erroneously club it with items that attracted a higher 150 per tariff indicates that the Trump regime is more focussed on building a negative narrative around India’s high tariffs than appreciating moves made by the country to correct it. “Tariffs on top US agricultural exports to India are already low. For instance, the import tariff on almonds is ₹35 per kg, translating to just 5 per cent at the current import price of ₹700/kg. Pistachios face a 10 per cent tariff, and ethyl alcohol only 5 per cent,” per a report by research body Global Trade and Research Initiative (GTRI). The US itself imposes 350 per cent tariffs on tobacco.

There have been some more instances of misrepresentation of facts by the Trump government. Trump had earlier claimed that US trade deficit with India was around $100 billion while in 2024 it was actually about $36.5 billion per calculations made by the Indian government and  $45.7 billion per US government. Last month, a White House white paper had stated that India charged a 100 per cent tariff on US motorcycles, while actually India slashed duties on high powered bikes like the American Harley Davidson to 30 per cent from 50 per cent in the Union Budget announced on February 1.

The US was India’s largest trading partner in FY24 with exports worth $77.51 billion and imports worth $42.19 billion.