India seeks removal of Trump tariffs under early trade deal with US

NEW DELHI: India hopes to revert to the pre-April 2 status for its exports, especially in the labour intensive sectors, as part of the bilateral trade deal with US in return for concessions for American imports, including farm products.

"Talks are moving positively. Before July 8, we are looking at concluding an interim deal ahead of the first tranche. It will include goods, non-tariff barriers, some areas of services like digital. We're trying that 26% additional duty and 10% baseline tariff shouldn't be there for India," an official said.

While the reciprocal tariffs were suspended for 90 days, the 10% baseline duty on all countries is in place, making exports uncompetitive. A full-fledged trade deal, which involves coverage of 85-90% of products from both sides, referred to as "substantial coverage", is unlikely till Trump administration gets a green light from Congress for reducing levies below the most-favoured nation rates applicable to all countries. tnn

India seeks US duty cuts for labour-intensive sectors
It can, however, remove the reciprocal tariffs imposed on countries, including India.

Commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal and a team of Indian negotiators is currently in the US holding detailed discussions on a bilateral trade agreement that was agreed to by Trump and PM Narendra Modi by Fall (Sept-Oct). Govt was earlier seeking an "early tranche" before the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs ends, but officials indicated that talks have been progressing well.

"Good discussions with secretary @HowardLutnick towards expediting the first tranche of India-US bilateral trade agreement," Goyal posted on social media on Tuesday after meeting the US commerce secretary.

Govt is seeking duty concessions for labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, leather goods, gems and jewellery, plastics, chemicals, shrimps, oil seeds and some Indian fruits. The US has been demanding duty cuts for its automobiles, especially electric vehicles such as Tesla, whiskey, wine, petrochemicals, dairy, and farm goods, including genetically modified crops.

While India is open to lowering customs duty for farm products, it is unlikely to allow genetically-modified products to enter the country. If the US-UK trade deal is a pointer, Washington offered concessions on some 100-odd products while managing to extract duty cuts for around 2,500 American goods as well as commitments for more aircraft and other purchases.

To ward off tariffs, India too may have to give more than it can get, including more LNG, fertiliser and defence purchases, experts have argued.


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