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Amid questions over Russian oil, zero tariffs claim, White House releases India-US trade deal factsheet
Amid scant detail, questions over certain aspects of the deal such as the halting of Russian oil purchases and zero tariffs have continued to linger.
India and the United States are in the final stages a signing a trade deal, which both countries have termed as 'historic'. However, despite the announcement, several claims have been made by US President Donald Trump which have not been clarified upon by either nation, specifically regarding New Delhi stopping its purchase of Russian oil and zero tariffs from India on US goods.
Amid the questions and doubts, the White House has released a fact sheet on Monday, addressing these concerns.
India-US trade deal | What the White House says
Is India halting its purchase of Russian oil?
As per the fact sheet issued by the Trump administration, the US President agreed to remove the additional 25% tariff on imports from India in recognition of New Delhi's commitment to stop purchasing oil from Russia.
Acknowledging this, Trump also signed an Executive Order removing the additional 25% tariff. However, the confusion occurred after Russia stated that it had not received any word from India regarding stopping its purchase.
Furthermore, when asked by reporters, the Ministry of External Affairs reiterated its statement and said that India's purchases will continue to be driven by prioritising its 1.4 billion population.
What about zero tariffs for the US?
Announcing the trade deal, Trump claims that India has agreed to reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers against the US to ZERO.
As per the joint statement, India has agreed to either eliminate or reduce its tariffs on 'all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains (DDGs), red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, certain pulses, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products."
Also Read | HT Decodes: India-US joint statement on trade deal
A similar statement is issued in the fact sheet. However, the exact details of the tariffs India will keep on US are yet to be shared.
“In line with the roadmap set out in the Terms of Reference for the BTA, the United States and India will continue negotiations to address the remaining tariff barriers, additional non-tariff barriers, technical barriers to trade, customs and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, trade remedies, services and investment, intellectual property, labor, environment, government procurement, and trade-distorting or unfair practices of state-owned enterprises,” the statement from the White House adds further.
