Days before fresh trade talks, India initiates WTO action on US steel duties

NEW DELHI: Days before commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal visits Washington for a fresh round of talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement, govt has for the first time threatened to act against the US after a barrage of attacks by American President Donald Trump, who called India "tariff king".

Govt's decision to initiate steps at WTO for a possible "retaliatory action" against 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum product imports came on the same day as Trump's claim that India-Pakistan ceasefire became possible after he suggested the US will stop trade. Govt sources have denied any such discussion.

Officials argued that govt was already planning to initiate safeguard action against the US at the WTO which had to be done by April 12, the stipulated period.

The notification to WTO’s Council for Trade in Goods on Monday only reserves India’s right to retaliate at any future date. “It is for India to decide if it wants to move ahead with the proposed retaliation after 30 days of the notification or later or resolve it as part of ongoing bilateral negotiations,” an official said.

This is, however, the first time that India has proposed action against a trade measure announced by Trump.

“The safeguard measures would affect $7.6 billion imports into the US of the relevant products originating in India, on which the duty collection would be $1.9 billion. Accordingly, India’s proposed suspension of concessions would result in an equivalent amount of duty collected,” India said in its filing to WTO.

The move comes just ahead of a visit by an Indian delegation led by Goyal, which will hold talks with US trade representative Jaimeson Greer and US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick between May 17 and 20. Next week, India’s chief negotiator Rajesh Agarwal and a team of officials will discuss market access (technical description of import duty cut), rules of origin and non-tariff issues.

On Monday, Japan and the European Union had also initiated similar action, said another official. “The timing was such that it is resulting in some conjecture, but this has been in the pipeline,” he added. Further, sources said, India had initiated a similar move during Trump’s first term when he had slapped 25% duty on certain steel products and 10% on aluminium, which was settled by the Joe Biden administration.

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