Washington: Hours before his scheduled meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. President Donald Trump set off speculation with a cryptic social media post hinting at a major trade move.

"Three great weeks, perhaps the best ever, but today is the big one: reciprocal tariffs!!! Make America great again!!!" Trump wrote in all capital letters on Truth Social.

The post comes amid Trump's push for a policy of reciprocal tariffs, which would impose U.S. import duties matching the tax rates levied by other countries. The move aligns with his long-standing stance on trade fairness, particularly with nations imposing high tariffs on American goods.

Analysts have warned that reciprocal duties could bring a broad tariff hike to emerging market economies such as India and Thailand, which tend to have higher effective tariff rates on US goods.

Countries that have trade deals with Washington such as South Korea are less at risk from this move, analysts believe. During election campaigning, Trump promised: "An eye for an eye, a tariff for a tariff, same exact amount."

For example, if India imposes a 25-percent tariff on US autos, Washington will have a 25-percent tariff as well on imports of autos from India, explained a Nomura report this week. "Trump's objective of implementing reciprocal tariffs is to ensure fair treatment for US exports, which could indirectly also address US trade imbalances with partner countries," analysts at Nomura said.

Among Asian economies, India has a 9.5-percent weighted average effective tariff on US exports, while there is a three-percent rate on India's exports to the United States. Thailand has a 6.2-percent rate and China a 7.1-percent rate on US products.

Earlier this week, Trump reiterated his commitment to the policy, saying, "It’s time to be reciprocal. You’ll be hearing that word a lot. Reciprocal. If they charge us, we charge them." He had previously indicated that a detailed order on the tariffs would be announced by midweek, emphasising that "every country will be reciprocal."

The Republican president has openly antagonized multiple U.S. trading partners over the past several weeks, levying tariff threats and inviting them to retaliate with import taxes of their own that could send the economy hurtling into a trade war.

Trump has put an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports due that country's role in the production of the opioid fentanyl. He also has readied tariffs on Canada and Mexico, America's two largest trading partners, that could take effect in March after being suspended for 30 days. On top of that, on Monday, he removed the exemptions from his 2018 steel and aluminum tariffs. And he's mused about new tariffs on computer chips and pharmaceutical drugs.

The European Union, Canada and Mexico have countermeasures ready to inflict economic pain on the United States in response to Trump's actions, while China has already taken retaliatory steps with its own tariffs on U.S. energy, agricultural machinery and large-engine autos as well as an antitrust investigation of Google.

The announcement comes as Modi embarks on a two-day visit to the U.S., with trade expected to be a key agenda item in discussions. The Trump administration has frequently raised concerns over India’s tariff policies, arguing they create trade barriers and hinder fair competition for American businesses.

It remains unclear if Trump views reciprocal tariffs as an alternative to a universal tariff of between 10 and 20 percent, which he floated in the lead-up to last year's US presidential election, or as a separate policy.

(With inputs from AFP)