Trump threatening existence of GST, says Congress

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh. File photo
| Photo Credit: Sansad TV

The Congress on Wednesday (February 19, 2025) claimed that the talk of reciprocal tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump is calling into question a consumption tax like GST, and wondered whether his “good friend in New Delhi” would stand up to it when national sovereignty is at stake.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said his party has long been calling for a GST 2.0 that will make GST a truly Good and Simple Tax, as it was intended to be.

It has called for the barest minimum of rates and vastly reformed compliance rules, he said in a post on X.

“Now President Trump is threatening the very existence of GST. By its very structure, GST is applicable to imports but not on exports. This has never been disputed,” he said.

Now all this talk of reciprocal tariffs by the U.S. President is calling into question a consumption tax like GST, Mr. Ramesh claimed.

“WTO apart, national sovereignty is at stake here. Will President Trump’s good friend in New Delhi, who keeps trumpeting that he is a Vishwaguru, stand up?” the Congress leader said in an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr. Ramesh also shared an article on X which claimed that the latest round of proposed tariffs from US President Donald Trump includes a response to what the White House describes as “unfair” taxes, specifically, value-added taxes such as Australia’s Goods and Services Tax.