Dar es Salaam, Feb. 14 -- WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump greeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House with a bear hug on Thursday and called him “a great friend of mine,” but nonetheless warned that India wont be spared from higher tariffs hes begun imposing on U.S. trade partners around the world.

Trump, who had previously derided India as the “tariff king,” called the import levies imposed by Modis country “very unfair and strong.”

“Whatever India charges, we charge them,” Trump said at a joint news conference where he stood next to Modi. “So, frankly, it no longer matters to us that much what they charge.”

As he has while recently hosting other foreign...