They shouldn't be dumping rice: Trump warns of new tariffs on India

New York: US President Donald Trump has warned of new tariffs against agricultural imports from India and fertiliser from Canada saying that they are troubling domestic suppliers.

Trump issued the warning while unveiling a multi-billion-dollar farm relief package for American farmers at a White House meeting.

Emphasizing his stance of protecting American producers, Trump announced that his administration would direct "$12 billion in economic assistance to American farmers".

‘We're really taking in trillions of dollars, if you think about it,’ Trump said, as well as claiming that countries "took advantage of us like nobody's ever seen.’

Trump said that the assistance to farmers is essential to stabilize the country’s farm economy while blaming ‘inherited inflation’ and ‘depressed commodity prices’, further saying ‘Farmers are an indispensable national asset, part of the backbone of America’.

During a lengthy discussion on rice imports India figured in as an example with a Louisiana producer saying imports were devastating for Southern growers.

When he was pointed out that Indian firms owned two largest brands in the US retail rice market, Trump said his administration would take care of it, adding ‘It's so easy… Tariffs, again, solves the problem in two minutes’.

‘They shouldn't be dumping... I mean, I heard that, I heard that from others. You can't do that,’ he added.

Trump also announced tariff measures to control fertilizer imports from Canada to encourage local manufactures.

‘A lot of it does come in from Canada, and so we'll end up putting very severe tariffs on that, if we have to, because that's the way you want to bolster here,’ he said, further emphasizing ‘And we can do it here. We can all do that here.’

Trump’s aggressive tariff policies strained India-US trade which has expanded over the past decade with India exporting rice, spice and marine goods while importing US almonds, cotton and pulses.