A day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his aggressive tariff rates against several countries, including India, Raghav Chadha, a lawmaker from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in India, has suggested that the Indian government should withhold tech mogul Elon Musk’s Starlink services in the country as a pressure tactic against the U.S. government to bring their tariff rates down.
Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha raised his concerns against high tariff rates put by the Trump administration against India during the question hour session on Thursday.
India has offered its unflinching loyalty and undying friendship to the US. We have done everything possible to promote and protect the interests of the US and US companies in India… But despite this, the Trump administration has levied 26% tariffs on Indian goods, which is likely to hit us by 50-100 basis points in terms of GDP loss. We will lose our competitive advantage in the global market particularly if the doors of the US markets are closed for us,” said Chadha.
Suggesting an arm-twisting technique, Chadh, the opposition MP, called upon the Indian government to withhold Elon Musk’s Starlink services in the country until the time the U.S. doesn’t renegotiate its tariff rates with India.
“I would like to ask the (concerned) minister that, should we not withhold the requisite approvals for Elon Musk’s Starlink, who is a very visible part of the US administration, and use that as a bargaining chip to renegotiate these Trump tariffs?” asked Chadha.
On April 2, the US government, led by President Donald Trump, observed “Liberation Day”, where the US announced reciprocal tariffs on various trading partners, including India, which was hit with a 27% tariff.
In March, Airtel and Jio had announced a collaboration with Elon Musk’s Starlink to bring satellite-based connectivity for high-speed internet in India. But it should be noted that though Starlink is keen to make its debut in India, it has still not obtained a license from the Indian government.
Last year, Starlink was under the Indian government’s scrutiny when it had refused to reveal data on who was using its Satcom devices during a significant drug bust raid by the Indian Coast Guard in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Starlink has also supported Ukraine in both military and civilian matters.