The United States is being treated so unfairly, China charging 150-200 per cent tariffs, India charging 175 per cent, President Donald Trump said in a meeting with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, along with tech CEOs in March last year, according to recently-published book.
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The meeting was about the semiconductor manufacturing and how the supply chain could be brought to the US. Trump was ‘unhappy’ about Taiwan’s dominance in the chip industry, producing around 70 per cent of semiconductors and 90 per cent of advanced chips.
The revelations of the meeting were made in the book titled “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump”, written by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
The meeting on March 10, 2025 had leaders from key tech firms, including IBM, Dell, HPE, HP, Qualcomm and Intel.
Also Read: ‘Giving me bullshit numbers’: Trump’s spat with Lutnick over India’s tariffs on US revealed
“The US gave it all away,” Trump said, adding, “Ninety-nine percent of the business is in Taiwan.”
Elon Musk, who was heading the now defunct Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said, “Chip fab capacity in the US is weak. Especially for the most advanced chips. The United States will only have thirty percent of TSMC’s capacity in 2029. If China invades Taiwan, the entire economy crashes.”
Trump, then asked, “What keeps the Taiwanese ahead?”. Turning to the CEOs, he said, “Aren’t you better positioned by being here? No tariffs, less risk?”
The President then warned that those not building in the US will have to pay massive tariffs, adding that the US was being treated unfairly by China and India.
“Those who won’t build here are going to have massive tariffs to pay…not 20 percent, like 100 percent. We’re treated so unfairly,
China tariffs us over 150 to 200 percent, India 175 percent,” Trump said.
Trump’s spat with Lutnick over India’s tariffs
The book makes another mention of India tariffs when Trump held a “very tense meeting” on March 26 with the President’s economic team on the tariff strategy.
Talking of “real” Tariff numbers, Trump said, “Nobody has fuc*** given me any numbers.”
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Trump was convinced that India’s tariffs on the US were much higher than the ones recorded by the office of the United States Trade Representative.
“Hard facts of how much China tariffs us, how much India tariffs us. You give me bull**** numbers,” the President said.
When Lutnick presented the President with the duties on record at USTR, Trump lost his cool and accused his administration of giving him false data.
“No, these are bull**** numbers,” Trump said, calling government data “f***ing bullshit,” despite Lutnick’s best attempt to convince the US president.
The arguments took place in the run-up to Trump’s “Liberation Day” exercise, where he imposed 25 per cent tariffs on India. A few months later, Trump doubled the tariffs to 50 per cent for purchase of Russian oil.
Earlier in February, India and the US agreed to a framework for a bilateral trade agreement. Under the February 7 framework, the US agreed to reduce tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 25 per cent, lower than duties facing several competing exporting nations.
However, the US Supreme Court ruling struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and Washington’s move to impose a temporary 10 per cent tariff on imports from all countries prompted the two countries to revisit key elements of the proposed framework.
Both the countries are aiming to finalise the pact before July 24 as most US imports will again face normal MFN tariff rates, restoring the pre-April 2025 tariff framework.
