Donald Trump makes big 'trade deal' announcement for India amid tariff worries

US President Donald Trump, who launched a fresh round of global trade war by threatening a host of countries with additional tariffs, said on Monday night that his country is close to reaching a trade deal with India. Trump made the revelation at the White House while he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Before meeting the Israeli PM, Donald Trump announced tariffs for 14 nations, including strategicallies like Japan. He later said that he had sent letters to the nations that weren't in talks with the US for trade deals.

Speaking with reporters, Donald Trump pointed out that the US had already entered trade deals with China and the United Kingdom and is in the process of finalising a trade deal with New Delhi.

"We've spoken to everybody...it's all done, I told you we'll make some deals, but for the most part, we're going to send a letter. We're going to say, 'Welcome to the United States, if you'd like to participate in the greatest, most successful country ever'. I mean, we are doing better than ever... We've never had numbers like this. We've never had investments like this. We have more than 90... we have much more than 90. But most of those are going to be sent to theletter. This is exactly what I said. Now we've made a deal with the United Kingdom. We've made a deal with China. We're close to making a deal with India. Others we met with, and we don't think we're going to be able to make a deal. So we just send them a letter," he said.

Trump said that the letters would detail how much tariffs the respective countries are liable to pay. He said the US wouldn't be unfair.

"If you want to play ball, ...this is what you have to pay... As far as I'm concerned, we're done. We're sending out letters to various countries telling them how much tariffs they have to pay. Some will maybe adjust a little bit, depending on whether they have a cause. We're not going to be unfair about it and actually, it's a small fraction compared to what we should be getting. We should be, we could be asking for much more. But for the sake of relationships that we've had with a lot of really good countries, we're doing it the way I do it. We could be getting a lot more. We could ask for a lot more than what we're asking for," he added.

Trump announced additional tariffs on 14 nations,including Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, South Korea, and Japan. He said the new taxes will be imposed with effect from August 1.

According to the letters, Thailand and Cambodia each will face a tariff of 36 per cent,while Bangladesh and Serbia will each be hit with a tariff of 35 per cent. In the letters, Trump mentioned that Malaysia and Kazakhstan will each face 25 per cent tariffs.