US President Donald Trump has said that India should not be \u201cdumping\u201d rice into the United States market and he will \u201ctake care\u201d of it, while stressing that tariffs will solve the \u201cproblem\u201d easily.<\/p>\n
Trump held a roundtable in the White House on Monday with representatives of the farming and agriculture sector as well as key members of his cabinet, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.<\/p>\n
He announced USD 12 billion in federal aid for farmers.<\/p>\n
Meryl Kennedy, who runs her family\u2019s agribusiness Kennedy Rice Mill in Louisiana, told Trump that rice producers in the southern part of the country are \u201creally struggling\u201d and that other nations are \u201cdumping\u201d rice into the US.<\/p>\n
When asked by Trump which countries are dumping rice into America, Kennedy, sitting next to the President, replied, \u201cIndia, and Thailand; even China into Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico used to be one of the largest markets for US rice. We haven\u2019t shipped rice into Puerto Rico in years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy said that this has been happening for years and did not start during the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut unfortunately, we\u2019re seeing it in a much bigger way now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said that tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are working, \u201cbut we need to double down\u201d, to which Trump said, \u201cYou want more, I understand\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump then turned to Bessent and said, \u201cIndia, tell me about India. Why is India allowed to do that? They have to pay tariffs. Do they have an exemption on rice?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo sir, we\u2019re still working on their trade deal,\u201d Bessent replied.<\/p>\n
Trump then said, \u201cBut they shouldn\u2019t be dumping. I mean, I heard that. I heard that from others. They can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy then told Trump there\u2019s a World Trade Organisation case against India.<\/p>\n
Trump asked Kennedy to give him the names of the countries dumping rice into the US and instructed Bessent to note down the names.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia. Who else?\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia, Thailand, China into Puerto Rico, not into the continental US, but into Puerto Rico. Those are the main culprits,\u201d Kennedy said, adding that American farmers can feed the US as well as nations around the world, but \u201cwe need fair trade, not free trade\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump said this will be \u201cso easy to settle\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s solved so quickly with tariffs to these countries that are illegally shipping. It\u2019s solved. Your problem is solved in one day. That\u2019s why we have to win the Supreme Court case,\u201d he said, adding that this problem will be solved in \u201cone day\u201d.<\/p>\n
Lower courts in the US have ruled that Trump\u2019s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs on nations around the world is illegal, and the case will now be decided by the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so unfair. They go out of business. They put everyone out of business,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
Trump said that America lost half of its car industry and chip industry because these products were being manufactured in other countries, and previous administrations did not impose tariffs on these imports into the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same thing with rice. It\u2019ll be good, will get it solved very quickly. We just need the countries. Just give us the names of the countries. Tariffs, again. It solves the problem in two minutes,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n
Kennedy then said that they have \u201cbought\u201d the largest brands at retail, too, so they have an incentive to subsidise their products.<\/p>\n
When Trump asked, \u201cWho did that?\u201d she said, \u201cIndians\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll take care of it. It\u2019s so easy,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
India is the largest producer of rice — 150 million tonnes\u2014and has a 28 per cent share of the global market. It is also the top exporter, with a 30.3 per cent share of global exports in 2024\u20132025, Indian Rice Exporters Federation (IREF) data shows.<\/p>\n
According to information on the website of the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), India exported about 2.34 lakh tonnes of rice to the US in the 2024 fiscal, less than 5 per cent of its total global basmati rice exports of 52.4 lakh tonnes.<\/p>\n
West Asia remains the dominant destination for Indian rice, it said.<\/p>\n
Among the rice varieties that India exports globally, \u2018Sona Masoori\u2019 is preferred in markets such as the US and Australia.<\/p>\n
Trump has imposed a 50 per cent tariff on India, the highest in the world, including 25 per cent for Delhi\u2019s purchases of Russian oil.<\/p>\n
Indian Rice Exporters Federation National President Prem Garg had termed the 25 per cent reciprocal tariff as a temporary \u201churdle\u201d for rice shipments and had stated that India still retains a pricing advantage over competitors like Vietnam and Pakistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis tariff is a temporary hurdle, not a long-term roadblock. With strategic planning, diversification, and flexibility, Indian rice exporters can protect and even expand their presence in the US market,\u201d Garg had said earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump has said that India should not be \u201cdumping\u201d rice into the United States market…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[146955,146956,146957,146958,146959,146960,45,49,48,46,146961,81370,14295,146962],"class_list":["post-334142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-exporttariffs","tag-indianrice","tag-ricedumping","tag-riceexporters","tag-usricemarket","tag-agriculturaltrade","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-fairtrade","tag-indiaustrade","tag-tradewar","tag-trumptariffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}