Harley Davidson row: Trump says ‘getting nothing’ after India reduces tariffs on bikes
President Donald Trump once again raked up the issue of high import duty on Harley-Davidson motorcycles by India, saying the US was “getting nothing” with the New Delhi’s recent announcement that it had slashed customs duty on imported motorcycles from highend brands to 50%.
He added the US wants fair and reciprocal trade deals. “When they (Harley Davidson) send a motorcycle to India, as an example, they have to pay 100 per cent tax -- 100 per cent,” Trump said in his remarks to a gathering of governors of all the states at the White House.
Referring to his recent conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said the “fantastic man” informed him that India has reduced tariffs on imported motorcycles, but the US was “getting nothing”.
“Now, the Prime Minister, who I think is a fantastic man, called me the other day and said we are lowering it to 50%. I said okay, but so far we’re getting nothing. So we get nothing. He gets 50 (%), and they think we’re doing -- like they’re doing us a favour. That’s not a favour,” he said.
“I wasn’t sure -- he said it so beautifully. He’s a beautiful man. And he said, ‘I just want to inform you that we have reduced it to 75, but we have further reduced it to 50’. And I said, huh. What do I say? Am I supposed to be thrilled? And that’s not good for you people, especially as governors. It’s just not right. And we have many deals like that,” Trump said.
He said the US gets “zero” when it buys an Indian motorcycle.
“So when they have a motorbike -- a big number, by the way -they have a company that does a lot of business. They have a motorcycle or a motorbike that comes into our country -- the number is zero. We get zero. They get 100%, brought down to 75; brought down, now, to 50. Okay,” Trump said.
“It’s a great company. When I spoke with your chairman or the president of Harley, they weren’t even asking for it because they’ve been ripped off with trade so long that they were surprised that I brought it up. I’m the one that’s pushing it more than they are, but it’s unfair. And India sells us a lot of motorbikes,” Trump said.
This is for the second time in a month that Trump raised the issue of high import duty on motorcycles by India.
Earlier, he had called it “unfair” and threatened to increase the tariff on import of Indian motorcycles to the US.
A defence ministry document purportedly picking holes in India’s arms-buying procedures has painted a grim picture of how unreasonable delays are hindering the military’s modernisation, at a time when several key programmes are running years behind schedule and some remain stuck on the drawing board.
Only 8-10% of the 144 deals initiated during the last three years came to fruition within the stipulated time period, an NDTV report said on Monday, quoting from an “internal report prepared in late 2017 by minister of state for defence Subhash Bhamre”.
Hindustan Times could not independently verify the contents of the purported paper and a defence ministry spokesperson did not immediately confirm or deny the report.
However, it is no secret that several projects have been hit by inordinate delays, experts say. These include the purchase of assault rifles, light machine guns, artillery guns, fighter jets, midair refuellers and submarines.
“I cannot comment on the authenticity of the report but the fact is that several of our projects are floundering at one stage or the other,” said a person tracking the military’s modernisation.
The development comes days after India dropped a plan to locally produce single-engine fighters in collaboration with a global defence contractor to expand the scope of the competition by including twin-engine fighters too. The Centre is preparing to launch a fresh hunt for fighter aircraft more than 10 years after it floated a global tender for the jets.
Quoting the purported “27-point” document, the channel said arms procurement was hindered by lack of accountability, multiple decision heads, duplication of processes, delayed execution, lack of real-time monitoring and a tendency to fault-find rather than to facilitate.
It added that the Make in India plan had failed to “demonstrate its true potential” due to flaw-ridden processes and delays.
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