Indian Trade Minister’s US Visit A Good Sign, Even If It Achieves Little
What Indian trade minister Piyush Goyal’s visit to the US signals
India’s simple average tariff rate stands at around 17% against 3.3% of the US. India has said that there are only a few products in the high tariff range between 25% and 150%. Though, some visible products like cars and even alcohol fall into this category.
A top finance ministry official said recently that India had significantly reduced its average customs duty rate to 10.66% from 11.65% and is now moving towards the same levels as prevalent in the Southeast Asian countries. Is that really true?
Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in the US for a two-day visit, which was scheduled at fairly short notice. The meeting seems to have had limited success on the issue of tariffs.
Trump greeted Modi at the White House with what Time Magazine called a bear hug two weeks ago and called him “a great friend of mine,” but also warned that India won’t be spared from higher tariffs he’s begun imposing on US trade partners around the world.
“Whatever India charges, we charge them,” Trump said at a joint news conference. “So, frankly, it no longer matters to us that much what they charge.”
The Indian finance ministry official who said very few products fell in the 25% to 150% duty range also added that duties on most products were actually in the narrow band of zero to 10%.
Another official said the duty on the top 30 items imported from the US — including crude oil, LNG, coal, diamonds, and ae...
India’s simple average tariff rate stands at around 17% against 3.3% of the US. India has said that there are only a few products in the high tariff range between 25% and 150%. Though, some visible products like cars and even alcohol fall into this category.
A top finance ministry official said recently that India had significantly reduced its average customs duty rate to 10.66% from 11.65% and is now moving towards the same levels as prevalent in the Southeast Asian countries. Is that really true?
Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in the US for a two-day visit, which was scheduled at fairly short notice. The meeting seems to have had limited success on the issue of tariffs.
Trump greeted Modi at the White House with what Time Magazine called a bear hug two weeks ago and called him “a great friend of mine,” but also warned that India won’t be spared from higher tariffs he’s begun imposing on US trade partners around the world.
“Whatever India charges, we charge them,” Trump said at a joint news conference. “So, frankly, it no longer matters to us that much what they charge.”
The Indian finance ministry official who said very few products fell in the 25% to 150% duty range also added that duties on most products were actually in the narrow band of zero to 10%.
Another official said the duty on the top 30 items imported from the US — including crude oil, LNG, coal, diamonds, and aeroplanes — ranges from only 0 to 7.5%.
All this, of course, is not making much of a dent where it should.
A Rushed US Visit
Now India’s trade minister Piyush Goyal is en route to the US to negotiate a deal, if he can.
Goyal's visit was sudden as he departed after cancelling previously scheduled meetings until March 8, officials told Reuters.
The good news is that India’s ministers and officials are hitting the road because that is the only option now.
Even if little were to come out of this, India needs to show and be seen to be willing to sit down at the negotiating table.
This is obviously a good signal to both international and domestic audiences, particularly in trade and business.
Hopefully, this spirit of outreach will extend further domestically as well.
