Trump Mocks Indian PM, Says Harley Davidson Tax Cut ‘Not A Favor’

President Donald Trump is not pleased with India’s 50 percent tax cut on Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Speaking at a meeting on Monday with the nation’s governors at the White House, Trump raked up his grievance with New Delhi’s tax on motor bikes to emphasize his point on other nations profiting from trade deals from the United States disproportionately, a point he vociferously reiterated in the past.

Trump while calling for fair and reciprocal trade deals, said the United States was “getting nothing” from New Delhi’s move to reduce their tax on Harley Davidson motorcycles from 100 percent to 50 percent. On Feb. 12, New Delhi announced they will be reducing their tariffs on the bikes by 50 percent.

After the president’s past tirades that revolved around countries like China, Canada, and Mexico ripping of the U.S. in trade deals, On Monday he roped in India too to home in on his point of reciprocal and fair trade deals.

According to a report in the Indian publication Business Today, Trump, who did concede the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, reduced the tax by 50 percent said: "So we want fair trade deals. We want reciprocal trade deals. Scott Walker has a wonderful company called Harley Davidson in Wisconsin. Right? Great. So when they send a motorcycle to India, as an example, they have to pay 100 percent tax — 100 percent."

Trump further claimed the 50 percent tax cut was inconsequential to the United States, saying he didn’t think India was doing the United States any “favor” by the move, although he believed the prime minister was a “fantastic man.”

"Now, the Prime Minister, who I think is a fantastic man, called me the other day. He said, 'We are lowering it to 50 percent.' I said, 'Okay, but so far we're getting nothing.' So we get nothing, he gets 50 [percent], and they think we're doing, like they're doing us a favor. That's not a favor. And you know what I'm talking about," the president said.

Trump added that Harley Davidson did not ask for the concessions afforded by the Indian government. In fact, the president said he pushed for the cuts which he deemed were insignificant in U.S. world trade.

"It's a great company. When I spoke with your chairman or the president of Harley, they weren't even asking for it because they've been ripped off with trade so long that they were surprised that I brought it up. I'm the one that's pushing it more than they are, but it's unfair," he said.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that U.S. bilateral trade with India was at an estimated $114 billion dollars in 2016 and according to a report in the Indian publication, the Harley Davidson imports amount to 0.05% of the $114 billion. India is ranked ninth as a goods trading partner by the U.S. government.

According to the report in Business Today, which cited the World Trade Organization, the U.S. had an average tariff rate of 3.4 percent on imported goods compared with 13.5 percent for India.

Trump said: "And India sells us a lot of motorbike… So when they have a motorbike — a big number, by the way — they have a company that does a lot of business. So they have a motorcycle that comes into our country — we get zero. They get 100 percent, brought down to 75; brought down, now, to 50. Okay."