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On US reciprocal tariffs on India, Centre's updates in Parliament
Jitin Prasada said India and the US will focus on increasing market access, reducing import duty and non-tariff barriers.
The Centre on Tuesday informed Parliament that as of date, the United States has not imposed reciprocal tariffs on India. The clarification comes days after US President Donald Trump criticised the high tariffs charged by India and other countries, terming them as “very unfair” and announced reciprocal tariffs from April 2 on nations that impose levies on American goods.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, minister of state for commerce and industry Jitin Prasada also said India and the US are planning to negotiate a trade agreement and both countries will focus on increasing market access, reducing import duty and non-tariff barriers, and enhancing supply chain integration.
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"Both countries plan to negotiate a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement. Both countries would focus on increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, and enhancing supply chain integration," news agency PTI quoted Jitin Prasada as saying.
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On February 13, the US issued a memorandum on reciprocal trade and tariffs wherein the US commerce secretary and United States trade representative (USTR) are to take necessary actions to investigate harm to America from any non-reciprocal trade arrangements adopted by trading partners and provide a report with detailed proposed remedies for each trading partner.
Tariffs are import duties imposed and collected by the government and paid by companies to bring foreign goods into the country.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington last month, India and the US announced their commitment to more than double the two-way commerce to USD 500 billion by 2030 and negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall of 2025.
In 2023, trade between the US and India reached an impressive USD 190.08 billion, with USD 123.89 billion coming from goods and USD 66.19 billion from services. During this time, India’s exports of goods to the US totalled USD 83.77 billion, while imports were USD 40.12 billion, leaving India with a trade surplus of USD 43.65 billion.
Between 2021 and 2024, the US became India’s largest trading partner, and remains one of the few countries where India enjoys a trade surplus.
Jatin Prasada also said India continues to engage with the US to achieve enhancement and broadening of bilateral trade ties in a mutually beneficial and fair manner.
“This is an ongoing exercise and Indian exporters are working towards diversifying trade baskets and export destinations,” he said.
On Monday, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal told a Parliamentary panel that negotiations between the two countries are still on, and no agreement on trade tariffs has been reached so far.
Sunil Barthwal briefed the Parliamentary Committee on external affairs after Donald Trump's recent claims that India has agreed to reduce its tariffs “way down”.
(With inputs from PTI)
