India may offer tariff cuts on US imports

New Delhi: India appears willing to cut tariffs on more than half of US imports worth 23 billion dollars to avoid heavy tariff duty on the Indian exports. Representatives of the two countries are expected to finalize a trade deal during their extensive talks here.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has already reduced custom duty on American breweries and motorcycles while presenting annual budget.

This would be one of the biggest tariff cuts being taken by the Indian government to avoid reciprocal tariffs that could hurt Indian exports.

The government is trying to reduce the impact of US President Donald Trump's global reciprocal tariffs, which are set to take effect from April 2. The new tariff regime imposed by the Trump administration has disrupted international markets and created concerns among many countries, including America ‘s Western allies.

According to reports, the new US tariffs could impact 87% of Indian exports to the US, which are worth around $66 billion.

The proposal for reducing tariff on the U S goods is still under discussion, and Indian government has not made a final decision. Other options being explored include adjusting tariffs for specific sectors instead of a broad tariff cut and negotiating reductions for selected products rather than reducing tariffs across multiple industries.

A US delegation, led by Brendan Lynch, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, is scheduled to visit India for trade talks which began today.

Tuesday. During Prime Minister Modi's visit to Washington in February,the two countries agreed to start early trade deal talks to resolve their tariff disputes. However, India’s willingness to reduce tariffs depends on whether the US agrees to ease reciprocal tariffs.