India to Impose Retaliatory Tariff on American Goods

India has decided to impose long-pending retaliatory tariffs on 29 US products. This is seen as India s retaliatory measure against US decision to impose tariffs on Indian goods and withdrawal of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for Indian exports.

India will be imposing additional customs duties on 29 US products, including almond, walnut and pulses, with effect from June 16.

India-US Trade Conflict

Last year, the US had imposed 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent import duty on aluminium products. India is one of the major exporters of these products and it was estimated that additional tariffs would have an impact of about $240 million on Indian steel and aluminium products.

Even though India had announced retaliatory tariffs on June 21, 2018, the decision to implement was extended multiple times owing to the ongoing negotiations.

But the negotiations came to a halt following the decision of the US to withdraw export incentives to Indian exporters under its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme.

India has also dragged the US to the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism over the imposition of import duties on steel and aluminium.