NEW DELHI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - India does not want to give

any signal that it is protectionist, the top bureaucrat in the

finance ministry said, after slashing import duties on high-end

motorcycles, amid U.S. President Donald Trump's moves on

tariffs.

Sunday's remarks came a day after Trump ignited a trade war

with sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China. None were

aimed at India, although Trump had called it a tariff abuser

during his election campaign last year.

"We don't want to give anybody any signal that we would like

to be protectionist," Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey told

Reuters. "Our stance is that we don't want to increase

protection."

Trade and immigration issues will take centrestage when

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Trump this month.

India has been trying to placate the Trump administration

after it accused the South Asian nation of maintaining very high

tariffs that hurt prospects for American firms.

Trump's administration has upped the ante by recently

raising the issue of undocumented Indians living in the United

States, a topic on which India's foreign ministry has said it is

in dialogue with U.S. authorities.

India slashed custom duties on motorcycles with engine

capacity of 1,600 cc or more to 30% from 50% on fully-built

imports in Saturday's budget, which Pandey said also cut its

average level of tariffs to 11% from 13%.

"We should give the right signal for the world, as well as

to our own industry," Pandey added, saying the tariff measures

aimed at helping domestic companies initially but would be

phased out as those industries developed.