US wants India to lower its tariffs: WH official

The US wants India to lower its duties on American products, White House trade and economic adviser Peter Navarro said on Wednesday, describing India as "the maharaja" of tariffs.

Navarro, who heads the White House Office for Trade and Manufacturing Policy, told Fox News in an interview that a study by him has shown that 90 per cent of the time India charges the United States higher tariffs than they charge India.

"We're engaged with India. The problem, I like to joke, India's the maharaja of tariffs. They literally have the highest tariffs in the world of any large country. It's ridiculous," Navarro said.

"The president (Donald Trump) is a big fan of the Reciprocal Trade Act, which would allow this country basically to charge higher tariff if a country won't lower theirs, he said in response to a question.

"The study I did showed that 90 per cent of the time India charges us higher tariffs than we charge them. So, yes, we've got to get India to belly up to that bar and lower their tariffs and make nice with trade," Navarro said.

US President Trump has also repeatedly claimed that India is a "tariff king" and imposes "tremendously high" tariffs on American products.