US President Donald Trump presented a positive front on tariff talks between Washington and India, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a “very smart man”.

“Prime Minister Modi was here just recently. And we we’ve always been very good friends. India is one of the highest tariffing nations in the world. It’s brutal. He (Modi) is a very smart man and a great friend of mine actually and we had very good talks. I think it’s going to work out very well between India and our country very, very well,” Trump said.

His statement comes day after he declared a 25 per cent tariff on all imported vehicles entering the United States. The tariffs, set to take effect on April 2, will impact nearly half of all vehicles sold in the United States, including American brands assembled overseas.

Among the various occasions when Trump highlighted India’s high tariffs was in February when he announced reciprocal tariffs. “We will soon impose reciprocal tariffs- they charge us, we charge them. Whatever a company or a country, such as India or China, charges, we want to be fair, hence, reciprocal,” he had said.

PM Modi had visited Washington DC in February and held bilateral discussions with Trump. The visit came less than a month after Trump was sworn in as US President for a second term.

During the visit, both India and the US resolved to deepen the bilateral trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation. PM Modi and US President Donald Trump set a new bilateral trade target – ‘Mission 500’ – aiming to more than double the total two-way goods and services trade to $500 billion by 2030.