New Delhi: While the Indian government has been focussing on bilateral trade agreements (BTA) with the US, it has not held any talks on averting reciprocal tariff.
The US has already announced starting from April 2, 2025, it will impose a reciprocal tariff, increasing the tariff on countries which levy higher duties on exports from the US than duties imposed by the US on their exports, reported The New Indian Express.
“Reciprocal tariff is a US law and part of its broader international trade strategy, which will impact not just one country. So, we have not been talking with them on reciprocal tariff,” a government official told the newspaper.
Officials from the Ministry of Commerce have not revealed yet about any request made by the Indian government to defer the imposition of the reciprocal tariff from April 2.
“Currently, they are conducting investigations on items and countries which may qualify for reciprocal tariff. The investigation is likely to end by 1 April, and a report will be submitted. So, after 1 April they may go ahead with the imposition of reciprocal tariff, said the government official.
Earlier, Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal had left on March 3 on an unscheduled visit to the US to initiate negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement.
“India charges us 100% tariffs; the system is not fair to the US, it never was. On April 2, reciprocal tariffs kick in. Whatever they tax us, we will tax them. If they use non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we will use non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market,” US President Donald Trump had earlier said.
