Defending Trump tariffs on India, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick asserted that while India “brags” about having 1.4 billion people, it refuses to buy even a small amount of corn from the United States.
Published: September 14, 2025 10:29 PM IST
Trump tariffs: Amid the impasse over an India-US trade deal, another top White House official has come out in support of US President Donald Trump’s imposition of punitive tariffs on Indian goods. Speaking on the premiere episode of ‘The Axios Show’ on Axios news, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ranted about India having a population of 1.4 billion but won’t even buy a bushel (about 25 kg) of corn from the United States.
What Howard Lutnick said about Trump tariffs on India?
Asked whether the Trump administration is is mismanaging “very valuable relationships” with “important allies” like India, Canada and Brazil with heavy Trump tariffs, Howard Lutnick asserted that while India “brags” about having 1.4 billion people, and asked why they won’t buy even a small amount of American corn.
“India brags that they have 1.4 billion people. Why won’t 1.4 billion people buy one bushel of US corn? Doesn’t that rub you the wrong way that they sell everything to us and they won’t buy our corn. They put tariffs on everything,” Lutnick said in the interview that aired on Saturday.
“India Brags that they have 1.4 Billion people, then why wouldn’t they buy one Bushel(25.40Kg) of corn from us. They won’t buy our corn?”
I am sorry to inform you but Trump’s Attack Dog Howard Lutnick is at it again@howardlutnick pic.twitter.com/jKt5Pti0K4
— Sensei Kraken Zero (@YearOfTheKraken) September 14, 2025
Why Lutnick ‘threatened’ India?
The US Commerce Secretary called the trade ties between India and US a “one-way relationship”, accusing New Delhi of “taking advantage” of the US. “The relationship is one way, they sell to us and take advantage of us. They block us from their economy, and they sell to us while we are wide open for them to come in (and) take advantage. The president says, ‘fair and reciprocal trade’,” he said.
Lutnick also warned that India would face a “tough time” doing business with the US if it doesn’t lower its tariffs citing Trump’s rhetoric of “bring down your tariffs, treat us the way we treat you”.
Defending Trump’s punitive tariffs on various countries, including India, Lutnick asserted that the Trump administration has “got to right years of wrong so we want a tariff going the other way until we fix this”. “That’s the president’s model, and you either accept it or you’re going to have a tough time doing business with the world’s greatest consumer,” he warned.
Trump tariffs on India
US President Donald Trump has imposed 25 percent reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods and an additional 25 percent levies for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties imposed on India to 50 percent, with effect from August 27.
India turned to purchasing Russian oil sold at a discount after Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and shunned its supplies over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Defending its purchase of Russian crude oil, India has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics.
(With inputs from agencies)
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