President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax in the US while he or his companies coughed up $145,400 in India in 2017 and earned $2.3 million from India during his initial years in the White House, The New York Times has reported.

For years, Trump reported heavy losses to offset millions of dollars in income, the newspaper said on the basis of tax returns.

“When he took office, Mr Trump said he would pursue no new foreign deals as President. Even so, in his first two years in the White House, his revenue from abroad totalled $73 million.… Some came from licensing deals in countries with authoritarian-leaning leaders or thorny geopolitics — for example, $3 million from the Philippines, $2.3 million from India and $1 million from Turkey,” the Times said.

“In 2017, the President’s $750 contribution to… the US government was dwarfed by the $15,598 he or his companies paid in Panama, the $145,400 in India and the $156,824 in the Philippines.”