OSAKA: US President Donald Trump set the tone on Thursday for what promises to be a stormy G20 summit by lashing out at friends and foes alike over trade tariffs and foreign policy.

The long-running US-China trade war looked set to dominate the two-day meeting of world leaders in Osaka from Friday but clashes also loomed over climate and hotspots including North Korea and Iran.

On board Air Force One en route to Japan, Trump fired off a characteristically bullish tweet, chiding long-standing ally India for “unacceptable” tariffs on American goods.

Demands withdrawal of India’s ‘unacceptable’ tariff hike

“India, for years having put very high Tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the Tariffs even further. This is unacceptable and the Tariffs must be withdrawn,” tweeted Trump.

India slapped higher duties on 28 US products after the United States withdrew tariff-free entry for certain Indian goods. Washington is also upset with New Delhi’s plans to restrict cross-border data flows and impose stricter rules on e-commerce that hurt US firms operating in India.

“I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the tariffs even further,” Trump said on Twitter.

“This is unacceptable and the tariffs must be withdrawn!” said Trump, who will meet Modi at this week’s G20 summit in Japan.

Government sources rejected Trump’s argument, saying Indian tariffs were not that high compared to other developing countries and U.S. tariffs on some items were much higher.

India’s trade ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

Trump’s tweet came hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo left New Delhi after meeting Modi.

Pompeo had said the nations were “friends who can help each other all around the world” and the current differences were expressed “in the spirit of friendship”.

In one tweet, though, Trump may have badly undermined Pompeo’s efforts to reduce friction between the two countries.

Trump in May scrapped trade privileges for India under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), under which New Delhi was the biggest beneficiary that allowed duty-free exports of up to $5.6 billion.

The US president had earlier taken aim at China, saying Beijing wanted to do a deal because the world’s number-two economy was “going down the tubes”.

Furious at what he sees as an unfair advantage in the trading system, Trump has already hit Beijing with $200 billion in levies on Chinese imports and appeared to threaten more.

“You have another $325 billion that I haven’t taxed yet — it’s ripe for taxing, for putting tariffs on,” he said in an interview with Fox Business Network.

Chinese President Xi Jinping touched down in Osaka several hours before Trump in driving rain as a potential typhoon edges towards Japan. The two leaders are expected to meet on Saturday.In Beijing, commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said that China’s attitude was “very clear”.

“We consistently oppose the bullying trade tactic of unilaterally slapping on tariffs,” said Gao.

Most experts say a formal deal is unlikely at the summit due to a lack of time to prepare the complex issues involved and believe a ceasefire and commitment to keep talking is the most likely outcome.

“I would be very, very surprised if they could work out all of these complicated disagreements in the next few days,” said David Dollar, a China expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

“I think if Xi Jinping and President Trump have some negotiations... that will have a very positive impact on the world economy,” Naoyuki Yoshino, head of the Asian Development Bank Institute, said.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2019