India set to delay tariff hike plans

New Delhi: India is likely to delay the imposition of retaliatory duties on  29 products imported from US for 45 days. The government wants to give some time to resolve disputes with US after President Donald Trump imposed tariff hikes on steel and aluminium.

In June, India had hiked customs duty on 29 products including farm products, steel and iron imported from the US. However, these duties were supposed to come into effect from August 4.

“Commerce ministry has suggested the Department of Revenue to amend the notification for further extension of retaliatory measures for another 45 days,” a commerce ministry official said.

India and the US are holding discussion to remove trade hurdles between the countries and India is expecting some positive outcome. India’s retaliatory action was in response to US decision to raise tariff on steel and aluminium products earlier this year which had an tariff impact of $241 million on India. The duty hiked by India was supposed to have an equivalent tariff implications for the US

India has proposed to buy petroleum products from US to help narrow the trade deficit. US has also emerged as a top arms supplier and US firms are bidding for military aircraft deals worth billions of dollars.

Differences between India and US have been rising since Donald Trump took office. Exports to US in 2016-17 stood at $42.21 billion, while imports were $22.3 billion. India had said the duty imposed by the US has affected steel exports by $198.6 million and aluminium shipments by $42.4 million.