U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on his criticism of India, calling trade ties with the country “a totally one sided disaster!” after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.  Modi made  poor choice.

     Trump in a post on Truth Social also said that India had offered to cut its tariffs to zero, but it was “getting late,” and that the country should have done so “years ago,” without elaborating on when such an offer was made.

     This comes against the backdrop of the U.S. imposing 50% tariffs on the country, including secondary duties of 25% last month for purchasing Russian oil, which India has called “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”

     Trump reiterated that India was buying oil and arms from Russia, and accused New Delhi of selling the U.S. “massive amounts of goods,” but imposing high tariffs on U.S. exports to India.

     “The reason is that India has charged us, until now, such high Tariffs, the most of any country, that our businesses are unable to sell into India. It has been a totally one sided disaster!” he wrote.

     Data from the World Trade Organization shows that India imposed a 6.2% average tariff on U.S. imports into the country in 2024, on a trade-weighted basis, while U.S. levied 2.4% on Indian goods. The trade-weighted average is the average rate of duty per imported value unit.