Trump hits out at 'beautiful, fantastic' PM Modi for high customs duty on Harley-Davidson

US President Donald Trump has once again imitated Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he criticised India for imposing high customs duty on American motorcycle brands. 

Calling Modi a "beautiful man", Trump said he was informed of reduction in tariffs on imported motorcycles by the Indian PM but the US was getting nothing with the cuts in the customs duty. 

At a gathering of governors of all the states at the White House, Trump said: "Now, the prime minister, who I think is a fantastic man, called me the other day and said we are lowering it to 50%. I said okay, but so far we're getting nothing. So we get nothing. He gets 50 (per cent), and they think we're doing -- like they're doing us a favour. That's not a favour." 

"I wasn't sure -- he said it so beautifully. He's a beautiful man. And he said, 'I just want to inform you that we have reduced it to 75, but we have further reduced it to 50'. And I said, huh. What do I say? Am I supposed to be thrilled? And that's not good for you people, especially as governors. It's just not right. And we have many deals like that," Trump said, according to PTI.

This is the second time that media has reported Trump "imitating" Modi. 

In January, Washington Post reported that Trump affects the Indian accent and "imitates" Prime Minister Narendra Modi while discussing Afghanistan policy.

"Senior administration officials said that the president has been known to affect an Indian accent and imitate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in an Oval Office meeting last year told him, "Never has a country given so much away for so little in return" as the United States in Afghanistan," the report said.

His recent criticism of India came as he raked up the issue of unfair trade deals. 

Raising the issue of high import duty on Harley-Davidson motorcycles by India, Trump said the US gets "zero" when it buys an Indian motorcycle.

This is for the second time in a month that Trump raised the issue of high import duty on motorcycles by India.

Earlier, he had called it "unfair" and threatened to increase the tariff on import of Indian motorcycles to the US. 

(With PTI inputs)