India agreed to cut tariffs way down, announces Donald Trump

Speaking at the Oval office, Trump said, "India charges us massive tariffs, massive you can’t even sell anything in India. It's almost... it is restrictive. You know, we do very little business inside.

"They have agreed, by the way. They want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody’s finally exposing them for what they have done."

The President made the remark at a time India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is in the US to meet White House officials to talk on bilateral trade deals.

Goyal has already met his US counterpart and the governments of the two countries are set to discuss a multi-sector trade deal.

India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said New Delhi will prioritise its interest and negotiate with the United States on trade related issues in the backdrop of Donald Trump's announcement of reciprocal tariffs for all countries.

At an event in Visakhapatnam, Sitharaman said tariff is a "legitimate instrument" as per the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework but both the countries- India and the US- will safeguard their interests on the negotiating table.

Sitharaman said, "Tariff is a legitimate instrument, a country will levy... It is consistent with the WTO framework."

"Now, on the question of bilateral relationship with the country and the tariff discussions between the two countries are concerned, both will take care of their individual interests. We will keep India's interest on the top and negotiate with them," the Finance Minister added.

The President on Wednesday reiterated that the reciprocal tariffs will come into effect on April 2.

Analysts have warned that reciprocal duties could bring a broad tariff hike to emerging market economies such as India and Thailand, which tend to have higher effective tariff rates on US products.

Countries such as South Korea that have trade deals with Washington are less at risk from this move, according to analysts.

Though Trump is fond of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the US President has often called India a "very big abuser" on trade.

Even during a joint press conference with Modi in Washington earlier this month, Trump expressed his displeasure over the tariffs India levy on American goods.