As President Donald Trump took a victory lap over his blitz of executive actions in his first 43 days in office declaring “America is back,” he again targeted India for its high tariffs raising concerns about their proposed trade deal.
“America’s momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Confidence is back,” Trump said Tuesday in his first speech to a joint session of Congress in his second term to applause from the Republican side of the hall, and silence from Democrats.
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“India charges us 100% tariffs; the system is not fair to the US, it never was,” he said in a speech clocking at just under one hour and 40 minutes, breaking the record for the longest annual presidential address.
“On April 2, reciprocal tariffs kick in. Whatever they tax us, we will tax them. If they use non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we will use non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market,” Trump said.
“Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it is our turn to start using them against those other countries,” he said. On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them.”
“Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening, and it will happen rather quickly. They’ll be a little disturbance, we’re OK with that, it won’t be much,” Trump said.
Trump’s tirade against India comes weeks after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Feb.13 visit to Washington when the two leaders after extensive talks on trade and economic relations agreed to hold negotiations for a trade deal.
During their talks, while Modi highlighted India’s growing role in the global economy, Trump emphasized that reciprocal tariffs would help American workers by encouraging more domestic production.
“We’ll begin negotiations to address the long-running disparities that should have been taken care of over the last four years,” Trump said then as he reiterated his administration’s plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on imports from various countries, including India.
Ahead of his speech, Trump imposed new tariffs on the country’s three largest trading partners: China, Canada and Mexico. The actions sparked retaliatory tariffs and a budding trade war.
Trump also praised FBI’s Indian American Director Kash Patel, crediting him with restoring trust in a justice system he claimed had been “weaponised” against political opponents.
“He’s going to do a great job. Thank you Kash,” Donald Trump said. Patel received a standing ovation from Republican lawmakers, acknowledging the applause with a silent “thank you” from his seat in the audience.
Unlike his predecessors, Patel’s presence at the address marked a shift, as past FBI directors traditionally kept their distance from the White House to maintain the bureau’s independence.
Shortly after beginning his speech, Trump was interrupted by Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who stood and shouted that Trump didn’t have a mandate. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ordered Green escorted from the House chamber.
READ: Canada, China, Mexico, South Korea, India among 10 countries to be hit by Trump’s tariffs on aluminum, steel (February 11, 2025)
Trump also thanked billionaire Elon Musk, who attended the speech, for leading the new Department of Government Efficiency — an initiative to slash the size of the federal government. He said that DOGE has found evidence of “hundreds of billions” of dollars of fraud.
Trump said he was working to make prices more affordable for Americans, and blamed former President Joe Biden for things like the high price of eggs. He said he would also bring down prices by lowering energy costs through investments in a natural gas pipeline in Alaska, and expanding the production of rare earth minerals.
On cutting government spending, Trump said, “We’re going to find out where that money is going and it’s not going to be pretty but slashing all of the fraud, waste and theft we can find will defeat inflation, bring down mortgage rates, lower car payments and grocery prices, protect our seniors and put more money in the pockets of American families.”
Other Democratic members of Congress continued to protest Trump during his remarks, with many holding up black placards that had phrases like “Save Medicaid” and “Musk Steals.” A few members protested by walking out in the middle of the speech.