SANJAY THAPA JEET
Coming hard on India’s tariffs on imports particularly from US, President Trump has said that the India charged highest import tariffs on goods although he expressed optimism that a trade deal will come about by the end of the year.
Speculations of a mini-trade deal did not come about in the two day Trump visit to India. President Trump said on Tuesday that India continued to impose high tariff on US goods like Harley Davidson motorcycles, IT products and medical equipment and also necessitates the localisation of data for various e-commerce platforms. Although the tariffs were halved on Harley Davidson motorbikes after the President Trump took up the issue in July 2019. He however said that the duties need to be brought down further by India.
The first leg of the trade agreement is expected to be finalized within three months Commerce Ministry has said that the two sides have agreed to fast track talks for a larger Free Trade Agreements later the areas will include market access for agricultural products, services and IPR. Earlier at the Hyderabad house PM Modi said that besides the US $ 3 billion defense deal and in energy, he said that that they -India and US –have started talks on the big trade deal that will be finalised later in the year. Given these agreements on Trumps visit Commerce Minister Piyush put the figure of US $ 100 billion by the end of the year will not be impossible. Indo US trade stood at abort US $ 68 billion by the end of the previous calendar year.
However India has countered the argument and said that the tariff was within the WTO recommended limits. Commerce Ministry officials say if seen from the that the trade weighted average India comes out better. Meanwhile US too imposes heavy tariffs on goods for instance 350 per cent on tobacco and 100 per cent on European Cheese, chocolate and peanuts.
