A week after the US scrapped trade privileges under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), India has decided to impose retaliatory tariffs on 29 listed U.S. goods including almonds and walnuts, sources said on Friday, June 14.
It is reported that the Finance Ministry will issue a notification regarding the matter soon.
Last year, India had stated that it intended to impose high import duties on a number of goods after the U.S. refused to exempt India from higher steel and aluminium tariffs.
Import duties on goods such as walnut have been hiked to 120 per cent from 30 per cent. Tariff on lentils will be increased to 40 per cent, reported news agency PTI.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows that more than half of U.S almonds, worth $543 million, were bought by India in 2018. Reuters reported that India is the second-largest buyer of U.S. apples, an estimated $156 million worth in 2018.
In February 2018, India had slashed the customs duty on imported motorcycles like Harley-Davidson to 50 per cent after the U.S. threatened to impose retaliatory taxes.
According to the U.S. Trade Representative, India is the ninth-largest good's trading partner of the U.S. Last year, the India-U.S. bilateral trade stood at $142.1 billion.
While the trade of both the country's goods was $87.5 billion, U.S. President Donald Trump has had his eyes fixed on the $21.3 billion (in 2018) U.S. goods trade deficit with India. The matter has been at the forefront since 2017.
