US To Impose Reciprocal Tariffs On India From April 2

New Delhi, Mar 6 (KNN) President Donald Trump has announced reciprocal tariffs on India starting April 2, potentially complicating the ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between the two nations.

The announcement signals a challenging path ahead for trade talks that were previously targeted for completion by September.

Despite this development, New Delhi remains optimistic that the understanding reached between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump during their February 13 meeting will help resolve trade issues and maintain the September deadline for signing the first tranche of the FTA.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal began his US trip on Monday to meet with the new United States Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer.

In his first address of his second term to a joint session of Congress, President Trump defended his strict tariff policies. He emphasised that the United States has long faced high tariffs from several countries, including India.

"On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Canada – have you heard of them? And countless other nations charge us tremendously high tariffs than we charge them. It's very unfair," Trump stated.

Trump, who has previously referred to India as a "tariff king," highlighted the auto sector as an example, noting that India imposes tariffs of over 100 percent.

"India charges us 100 per cent 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,” the President declared.

“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," he added.

Following the announcement, the White House released a factsheet comparing tariff rates between the two nations. According to the document, the U.S. average applied Most Favoured Nation tariff on agricultural goods is 5 per cent, while India's is 39 per cent.

The factsheet also noted that India charges a 100 per cent tariff on US motorcycles, compared to the 2.4 per cent tariff the US imposes on Indian motorcycles.

Indian officials remain hopeful that trade issues can be resolved through mutual consultation, emphasising that India-US ties are ‘multifaceted’ in line with the understanding reached between Modi and Trump.

(KNN Bureau)