Trump tariffs: PMO calls for high-level meeting to assess order

The Prime Minister’s Office has called for a high-level meeting to assess the reciprocal tariff announcements made by US President Donald Trump. Trump, calling the decision for India ‘very tough’, imposed a 27 per cent tariff.

Government sources told Business Today TV that the PMO has called for a meeting, chaired by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, PK Mishra, to assess the situation. Senior officials from the commerce ministry, Niti Aayog, and others have reportedly briefed the PMO.

The meeting comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaches Thailand for a two-day visit to attend the sixth BIMSTEC summit.

While announcing the tariffs from the Rose Garden in the White House, Trump said, “India, very, very tough. Very, very tough. The Prime Minister just left. He's a great friend of mine, but I said, ‘You're a friend of mine, but you’re not treating us right.” “They charge us 52 per cent. You have to understand, we charge them almost nothing, for years and years and decades, and it was only seven years ago, when I came in, we started with China and we took in hundreds of billions of dollars from China in tariffs,”  he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said India is assessing the tariffs. "For Trump, it's America first but for Modi, it's India first. We are assessing the impact of reciprocal tariffs imposed by the US," he said on the sidelines of an event organised by PFRDA.

President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on about 60 countries.