‘We may have to walk away’: Shashi Tharoor on ‘unreasonable’ demands by US; says India is not out of options | India News

File picture of Shashi Tharoor (Pic credit score: PTI)

NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 25 per cent tariff and ‘penalty cost’ on India has led to large uproar within the nation. Noting its impression on the Indian economic system, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor mentioned that it is a severe matter and will “destroy” India’s commerce with America.He added that commerce negotiations with US are underneath approach and “there is a possibility that it may come down.”Talking to information company ANI, Congress chief Shashi Tharoor on Trump’s “dead economy” mentioned, “It’s a very serious matter for us… 25, plus an unspecified penalty for our buying oil and gas from Russia, it could take it up to 35-45… There’s even talk of a 100% penalty, which will destroy our trade with America… The trade negotiations are underway, and there is a possibility that it may come down. If it doesn’t, it will damage our exports, because America is a very big market for us.“The Congress chief additional said that America’s demands are utterly unreasonable and that it wants to perceive India’s wants as nicely. “On the other hand, if their demands are completely unreasonable, our negotiators have every right to resist… America has to understand our needs as well. Our tariffs on America are not that unreasonable. It’s about 17% average. American goods are not priced competitively enough to sell in the Indian market,” he mentioned. He additional urged that India may diversify its market if talks do not go nicely with US, asserting that “we are not out of options.” On commerce negotiations between the US and India, he mentioned, “It is a challenging negotiation. We are negotiating with many countries. The US is not the only negotiation. We have ongoing negotiations with the EU, we already concluded a deal with the UK, and we are talking with other countries also. If we can’t compete in America, we may have to diversify our markets outside of America. We are not out of options. If America is completely unreasonable with its demands, we have to move elsewhere.” “That is the strength of India; we are not a totally export-dependent economy like China. We have a good and strong domestic market. We must give strong support to our negotiators to find the best deal possible. If a good deal is not possible, we may have to walk away,” he added.