In what comes as a sharp reaction to Elon Musk's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Donald Trump called India "a very hard place" to do business in "because of the tariffs". He accused India of having the highest tariffs, as he said Musk met PM Modi, as the Tesla CEO is running a company. Earlier, Trump announced reciprocal tariffs in which he explicitly mentioned India, saying, "Traditionally, India is right at the top of the pack pretty much. There are a couple of smaller countries that are more, but India charges tremendous tariffs."
Trump cited the Harley Davidson example as he underscored, "I remember when Harley Davidson couldn't sell their motorbikes in India because in India – the tax was so high, the tariff was so high, and Harley was forced to build.
Earlier, PM Modi and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk discussed opportunities in space, mobility, technology, and energy and exchanged notes on efforts at good governance in India and the US.
US President Donald Trump chose Musk to head a new US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last month. PM Modi arrived in the US capital Wednesday evening for a bilateral meeting with President Trump.
“Had a very good meeting with @elonmusk in Washington DC. We discussed various issues, including those he is passionate about such as space, mobility, technology and innovation,” Modi said in a post on X.
“I talked about India’s efforts towards reform and furthering ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’,” he added.
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval were also present at the meeting with Musk, also the CEO of Tesla, a US automotive and clean energy company.
“Prime Minister Modi and Mr Musk discussed strengthening collaboration between Indian and US entities in innovation, space exploration, artificial intelligence, and sustainable development. Their discussion also touched on opportunities to deepen cooperation in emerging technologies, entrepreneurship and good governance,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
(With agency inputs)