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India and the US maintain open informal communication channels, and the new Delhi has no immediate plans to retaliate against 50% of President Donald Trump’s tariffs to the South Asian nation, according to the official, who is familiar with this matter.
While interviews about the bilateral trade agreement were postponed, both countries continue to communicate on critical issues, including defense and foreign policy, the supreme official of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
The person quoted virtual interviews this week, including Trump officials and higher representatives of Indian foreign and defense ministries as an example of how key departments in both governments are still involved.
The Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry did not respond to the request for further information.
Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal later told reporters on Friday that India was leading a US discussion about a bilateral trade agreement.
This week, Trump doubled the tariffs to India to 50%, the highest in Asia and punished the country for buying Russian oil. Obligations will harm industrial sectors to work, such as textiles and jewelry, risking eroding export competitiveness in India against opponents such as China and Vietnam. Citigroup Inc. It estimates that tariffs could reduce the annual growth of India by 0.6 to 0.8 percentage point.
The tariffs pushed Indian Rupees on a record low on Friday against the dollar. The local currency was traded for 88.2388 per dollar at 2.25 hours of local time, by almost 0.61%, which in February violated its previous minimum 87.9563. Rupee this year is the worst currency in Asia, which is under the pressure of the persistent foreign drainage from local shares.
The Indian government condemned tariffs as unfair and stated that it would buy Russian oil if it was financially beneficial.
At the beginning of this year, the US and India signed a framework agreement on a bilateral trade agreement and undertook to complete the first tranchi of this pact this year.
The new Delhi will continue to work with Washington on this bilateral trade agreement, although no date has been set for the next round of interviews, the official said. The American sales team, which was to be scheduled for India 25 – 29. August on the sixth round of business interviews, postponed his visit.
The trade agreement between these two nations cannot be signed until both mutual tariffs and secondary duties over Russian oil purchases are discarded, the official said.
-S using Subhadip Sircar and Anup Roy.
(Update of comments of the Minister of Trade in the fifth paragraph.)
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