INDIAN RETALIATE USA IN TRADE WAR


US India relationship US India trade war
After USA withdrawn the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) earlier this month India has taken decision to impose its long-promised retaliatory tariffs on more than 28 products imported from the US, including almonds, fresh apples and phosphoric acid, amidst rising trade tensions between the two countries. The move will be taken in action from Sunday, as per the notification from the Central Board                                                                                                         of Indirect Taxes and Customs                                                                                                                   (CBIC) late Saturday.

A separate notification has also been released by the CBIC stating to raise the standard customs duty (applicable for all countries) for lentils, boric acid and some diagnostic reagents.

The standard duty for lentils has been raised from 40 percent to 50 percent, for boric acid to 27.5 per cent from 17.5 per cent and for diagnostic reagents other than those for pregnancy confirmation and diagnosing AIDS to 30 per cent from 20 per cent. As per the notification the raise has been seen of 10 percent on each of the product

According to the latest notifications, the import duties on fresh or dried shelled almonds has been raised to Rs 41/kg, while the tariffs on fresh apples, has gone up to 70 percent, earlier it was 50 percent. The import duty on phosphoric acid has been set at 10 per cent.

India is the largest importers of almonds from the US, with imports worth $615.12 million of fresh or dried shelled almonds in annual year of 2018-19. Its imports of fresh apples stood at $145.20 million and phosphoric acid at $155.48 million during the same period, information’s are from the Indian commerce ministry. The import of diagnostic reagents stood at nearly $145 million that year.

India had first notified the retaliatory tariffs on over $200 million worth of goods in June 2018 after the US imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum products. However, the government deferred the move several times over the course of the last year.

The US is one of India’s largest trading partners, exporting $33.1 billion worth of goods to India in 2018. However, India still had a goods trade surplus of $21.3 billion with the country.

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