New Delhi, Feb 19 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday claimed that the talk of reciprocal tariffs by US 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 US President is calling into question a consumption tax like GST, 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.

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. PTI ASK DV DV

Consumption tax vulnerability: reciprocal tariff threats could undermine GST neutrality and tax-policy sovereignty. Talks of reciprocal tariffs by the United States challenge the structure and international treatment of GST as a consumption tax, which by design applies to imports and exempts exports; such tariff measures could undermine GST's neutral treatment of trade and tax-policy coherence. The Congress urges a sovereign response and pushes for a GST 2.0 emphasising rate minimisation and simplified compliance to protect tax design and regulatory autonomy.