US President Donald Trump has criticised India for imposing high tariffs on American automobile imports, stating that India charges the US "auto tariffs higher than 100%".

This criticism was part of a broader address to a joint session of Congress, where Trump emphasised that many countries, including India, China, the European Union, Brazil, Mexico, and Canada, charge significantly higher tariffs on US products compared to what the US charges them.

Trump said, " Under the Trump administration, you will pay a tariff and in some cases a rather large one. Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades and now it's our turn to start using them against those other countries. On average the European Union China, Brazil India Mexico and Canada have you heard of them and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It's very unfair. India charges us auto tariffs higher than 100 percent."

He also spoke about the tariffs imposed by the European Union, China, Brazil and Mexico and announced that the US will impose tariffs on other nations based on what they do to the US.

The US President also vowed to Tax the countries who were taxing the US and claimed that the US had been ripped off for years by every country on Earth.

"That's reciprocal, back and forth. Whatever they tax us, we will tax them. If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we will do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market. There's a lot of that, too. They don't even allow us in their market. We will take in trillions and trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before. I did it with China, and I did it with others. And the Biden administration couldn't do anything about it because there was so much money. They couldn't do anything about it. We have been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on Earth, and we will not let that happen any longer," he said.

Trump announced that the US would impose reciprocal tariffs starting April 2, aiming to match the tariffs imposed by these countries on American exports.

This move is part of Trump's strategy to address what he perceives as unfair trade practices by other nations, asserting that the US will no longer tolerate being "ripped off" by high tariffs.

Trump's announcement comes after he previously discussed these issues with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Modi's visit to Washington, making it clear that India would not be exempt from the reciprocal tariffs.

The imposition of these tariffs could have significant economic implications for India, potentially costing billions of dollars annually.

Despite India's overall average applied Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff being around 39%, specific products like US motorcycles face tariffs as high as 100%.

Trump's policy aims to correct perceived imbalances in international trade by ensuring that tariffs are more equitable across countries.

ANI