A report published by Bloomberg News today pointed out that countries which run trade deficits with the United States including India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam could be the next targets in the trade war unleashed by the Trump administration.
Pointing out that trade deficits are a problem, Deborah Elms of the Singapore-based Asian Trade Centre, told the news agency, "At any moment there could be an angry Donald Trump in your face or a Twitter coming your way. Have other countries woken up to this problem? Perhaps not."
Bloomberg further pointed out that trade between India and the U.S. stood at $65 billion in 2015, with India running "a substantial surplus, helped by exports of information-technology services, textiles and precious stones."
Last month, President Donald Trump withdrew from the 12 nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, negotiated by the former Obama Administration. He has also described the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) signed by President Bill Clinton in December 1993, as the worst trade deal the U.S. has ever signed and that it continues to kill American jobs. He promised to renegotiate NAFTA and Korea-US Free Trade Agreement.
In July, last year, Trump also threatened to pull out of the Word Trade Organization (WTO) if he was not allowed to impose tariffs on companies that moved production outside of the U.S.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the fifth world leader that Trump phoned after he took office as the U.S. president , and relations between the two appear to be amicable so far. The two leaders discussed security, economy, defense and countering terrorism. But the proposed overhaul of the H-1B visa regime by the Trump Administration has rattled the Indian industry.
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