Washington:
The United States signed a trade agreement with Pakistan, US President Donald Trump said Wednesday, hours after announcing 25 customs rates of India in addition to unspecified “punishment” over New Delhi’s purchase of Russian weapons and energy.
Trump said the deal with Pakistan included joint development of the country’s “massive” oil reserves. The message came as the negotiations continue with other nations, including South Korea, in front of his self -imposed on August 1st.
“We have just concluded an agreement with the country Pakistan, where Pakistan and the United States will work together to develop their massive oil reserves,” Trump wrote in the post of his social media platform of ‘Truth Social’.
“We are in the process of choosing the oil company that will lead this partnership. Who knows, maybe they will sell oil to India one day!” The US president wrote in his post without providing further details of the deal.
Trump said his administration was “very busy in the White House today working with trade agreements.” He said, “I’ve talked to the leaders of many countries who everyone wants to make the United States ‘extremely happy.’ I meet with the South Korean Trade Delegation this afternoon.
Trump introduced a deadline on August 1 for dozens of nations to strike trade agreements with the United States or face tariffs that were increased well over the 10% baseline he had already rolled out. In a separate announcement, Trump said that the deadline of August 1 “stands strong and will not be extended.”
Trump also announced 25% duty on imports from India and said that Indian tariffs were “among the highest in the world” and that New Delhi had “the most strenuous and disgusting non-monetary trade barriers in any country.”
The 25% duty would be marginally lower than the rate announced in April but is higher than for other Asian countries. India was one of the first major economies to engage the Trump administration, but its reluctance to open its agriculture and other sectors prevented an agreement so far.
“Remember, while India is our friend, over the years we have done relatively little business with them because their tariffs are too high, among the highest in the world, and they have the most strenuous and disgusting non-monetary trade barriers in any country,” Trump said Wednesday morning.
He added that India “has always bought a large majority of their military equipment from Russia, and is Russia’s largest energy buyer with China at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine.” In addition to the 25% duty, India will have “a penalty for the above,” Trump said.
Later in the day, he told the journalists that there was still talk of customs and “we will see what is happening,” but he did not elaborate the penalty. In response, the Indian government said it is studying the consequences of Trump’s Customs Instructions.
India and the United States have been involved in negotiations to end a “fair, balanced and mutually advantageous” bilateral trade agreement for the past few months, and New Delhi remains obliged to this goal, India’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
The US president has so far reached agreements with the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan and the European Union, although details of many of the offers remain a little with the White House, recognizing that some require further negotiations.
Trump was an optimistic note that an agreement will be reached with China, which was given until August 12 to reach an agreement. “We are doing well with China. I think it’s going to work very well. I think we want a very fair deal with China,” he said.
“Other countries offer a dust reduction offers. All this will help reduce our trade deficit in a very large way. A full report is released at the appropriate time. Thanks for your attention to this case. Make America great again!” Said Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump’s markets with scaled-down 50% clipped customs on copper pipes and wires shocked, which drew us copper prices more than 17% on the Comex exchange and revealed a prize over London Global Benchmark that had grown in recent weeks.
