India raises duties on 29 US import items
NEW DELHI: India on Thursday said its retaliatory tariffs on 29 US products worth $235 million will come into effect on August 4, countering a US move to unilaterally raise import duties on Indian steel and aluminium.
India left out Harley-Davidson from the final list, in a change from an earlier announcement that it would impose 50% additional tariff on the iconic American motorbikes.
India could have imposed the retaliatory tariffs with immediate effect.
But with upcoming negotiations on a “trade package”, New Delhi seems to have allowed some more time; assistant US trade representative Mark Linscott is scheduled to visit India next week for the negotiations.
India is the latest major economy to hit back against President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes on steel and aluminium.
On Wednesday, the European Commission notified it will start imposing 25% import duty on Friday on a range of US products including Harley-Davidson bikes.
China in April implemented retaliatory tariffs of up to 25% on $3 billion in food imports from the US.
Last week, India gave the World Trade Organization (WTO) a revised list of 30 items imported from the US, including almonds, apples and phosphoric acid on which it intends to impose retaliatory tariffs. Earlier on May 18, India had given the WTO a list of 20 such items worth $166 million. India is the world’s largest buyer of US almonds and will collect $116 million by imposing a 20% additional duty on US exports.
India had asked the US government to exempt it from its 25% steel tariff and 10% aluminium tariff imposed by Trump on grounds of national security. The US rejected India’s request. India has also dragged the US to the dispute settlement mechanism in the WTO over the matter.
Trump has often raised the issue of higher tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorbikes imposed by India and threatened to put reciprocal taxes on Indian bikes, which he has wrongly claimed to be selling “in thousands” in the US.
Addressing reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada’s Quebec City last week, Trump specifically named India, accusing it of charging 100% tariff on some US goods. “We’re like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing,” Trump said.