India to levy retaliatory tariffs on 29 US products |
In what could potentially aggravate trade tensions between India and the US, New Delhi has decided to impose long-pending retaliatory tariffs on 29 US products. Washington had withdrawn duty-free benefits for Indian exports under its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) effective June 5.“The duty hikes will come into effect in normal course as the notification to postpone the hikes will expire on Saturday night. We don`t see any reason for escalation as the duty hikes are against the tariff hikes by the US on steel and aluminium products, and not because the US withdrew duty-free benefits to Indian exporters. According to the current notification, the retaliatory tariffs will come into effect beginning June 16. India had repeatedly postponed the imposition of retaliatory tariffs of $235 million on import of US goods worth $1.4 billion since they were first announced on June 20, 2018.Key items imported by India from the US include almond and fresh apples worth $645 million and $165 million, respectively. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo is scheduled to visit New Delhi on June 25-26, on his way to the G20 Summit, to hold bilateral discussions with his Indian counterpart, external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
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