Ahead of the G20 Summit in Japan's Osaka, US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to send a strong message against India having "recently increased the Tariffs" against the United States.
"This is unacceptable and the Tariffs must be withdrawn!" he said.
Trump on Wednesday, 26 June, left the White House to attend the G20 Summit in Osaka over the weekend and hold discussions on a host of bilateral and global issues with leaders of top 20 economies of the world.
What Did Twitter Say?
The replies to Trump’s tweet from Twitter users in India and the US were interesting. One Twitter user said the applied tariffs are well within WTO bound rates and much lower than other developing countries.
“US links their increase in tariffs to National Security and shows their hypocrisy when retaliatory tariffs are applied,” he said.
Another Twitter user from US said, ‘Whilst you load tariffs on everyone?”
Journalist MK Venu said what is more insulting is Trump’s “tweet naming Modi and suggesting India is a tariff violator and he would expect PM to withdraw new tariffs just ahead of his meeting with Indian PM at G20 meet.”
Shouldn’t India respond, he asked.
Journalist Aarti Tikoo Singh said Trump’s ‘America First’ is more or as protectionist as ‘India First’.
One Twitter user from the US asked Trump to suspend all H1B1 visas from India. “That would be a start,” he wrote.
Another Twitter user from the US asked India to stand up and be strong.
Another Twitter user tried to decode the replies to Trump’s tweet. She came to the conclusion that the replies are a mix of “Trump supporters chest thumping asking Indians to get out, Modi Bhakts chest thumping to American Democrats who are criticising Trump (without realising they are ‘liberals’), sane Indians sitting and enjoying (sic).”
One Twitter user seemed to think that Twitter is not the platform to discuss foreign and trade policies. “Wouldn't formal communication channels a better way to deal with negotiations and communication with foreign countries and leaders (sic),” he asked.
Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the US president will meet his Chinese and Russian counterparts Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit.
The White House said Trump and Modi would hold a bilateral meeting on 28 June. This would be the third engagement of Trump on Friday, which would start with his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at 8:30 am local time. Thereafter, Modi would join Abe and Trump for a tri-lateral meeting at 9:15 am.
The Trump-Modi bilateral is scheduled to start at 9:35 am.
Catch all the live updates on the G20 Summit here.
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