The US President has levied tit-for-tat import duties on all products from the South Asian nation, which will kick in on April 2

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed the high tariffs used by India and other countries including China and the European Union as "very unfair," and announced that reciprocal tariffs will kick in on April 2. 

The announcement came on the heels of a meeting in Washington between the US and Indian leaders, where they discussed expanding trade.

Addressing a joint session of Congress, Trump stated: "India charges us auto tariffs higher than 100%. It's very unfair." He went on to add that "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."

The issue of reciprocal tariffs was reportedly taken up by Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi during his meeting with Trump in Washington last month. Local outlets report that New Delhi was preparing detailed fact sheets on existing import duties on major US industrial goods exported to the country.

In their public statements, the two leaders agreed on "elevating" bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, more than double the current volume. New Delhi and Washington have also vowed to finalize the first phase of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), a deal that would address existing barriers, by the fall of 2025.

After meeting Modi, Trump reiterated his stance on import duties in a Fox News interview, recalling telling Modi, "Whatever you charge, I'm charging." 

Additionally, Washington has also proposed a 25% tariff hike on pharmaceuticals imported into the US, which could be a cause for concern, both for Indian suppliers as well as American consumers, as industry watchers have warned that the price of medicine will go up. 

Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago residence that sectoral tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductor chips would begin at "25% or higher," rising substantially over the course of a year. However, it is not applicable to companies with plants in the US, he added. The US has a $100 billion trade deficit with India, and the tariffs, according to Washington, will help to bridge this. Meanwhile, New Delhi officials, quoted by Reuters, have suggested that their country's domestic exports are under constraint due to aggressive trade measures being undertaken by major partners such as the EU and the US.

It's "high time India also looked at our trade and industrial policies comprehensively," Santosh Sarangi, Head, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), told the agency.

Indian exporters across sectors such as automobiles and agriculture have already expressed concerns regarding the development. According to Citi Research analysts, cited by ABPLive, the reciprocal tariffs could result in losses of up to $7 billion annually.