US President Donald Trump, while speaking at a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, announced imposition of ‘reciprocal tariffs’ from April 2.
This leaves India with less than four weeks to decide and, if need be, adjust the levy of customs and duties it imposes on US goods entering India. Else, the Trump administration will impose equal tariffs on Indian goods entering the US.
New Delhi has set up a committee that is studying the impact of reciprocal tariffs on the India-US trade. The committee under the Ministry of Commerce represents ministries of agriculture, food processing, industry, heavy industry, electronics and IT.
In February, after a bilateral meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, the two countries had agreed to negotiate the first tranche of multi-sector bilateral trade agreement by October this year.
Modi and Trump had also announced ‘Mission 500’, targeting a bilateral trade of $500 billion by 2030.
