New Delhi, April 1 (PTI) The Ministry of Trade is working on various scenarios to assess the possible slope of reciprocal tariffs that the US administration deposited on April 2 on its key business partners, including India.
US President Donald Trump said on April 2 will be a “day of liberation” because it plans to announce tariffs or import obligations to reduce the US trade deficit and support the country’s production.
India and the US are also working on a bilateral trade agreement to support two -way trade and investment.
The domestic industry and exporters raised concerns about the possible impact of the US mutual tariffs on Indian exports, because the obligations could make non -speatitive goods in global markets. The US is the largest business partner of India.
While on Monday he responded to questions in the oval office, Trump said India would “very much drop his tariffs”.
“I have heard that India, just a moment ago, will drop their tariffs very much. I said why someone hadn’t done it long ago. Many countries drop their tariffs … If you look at the European Union on cars, the European Union has already dropped 2.5 %.
Just a few hours before Trump’s comments, the White House said India stored 100 % tariff on American agricultural products.
Sources in Nový Delhi said on Tuesday that the impact of American tariffs may differ from sector to sector and the ministry is preparing various scenarios.
These scenarios would be important to help domestic companies deal with these duties because it is still uncertain about the quantum and way of the US plan to store tariffs.
According to a report of the National Business Estimation of the US Sales Representative (NTE), 2025 India maintains “high” import obligations on a wide range of American goods such as agricultural subjects, drug wording and alcoholic beverages, except for storing non-tariff barriers.
Indian industry and government officials are not sure of the quantum of these duties.
It is still not clear how tariffs will be applied – whether at the product level, the sector level or the ground level, another source said.
Currently, US goods in India face a weighted average tariff of 7.7 %, while Indian exports to the US attract only 2.8 %, resulting in 4.9 %of the difference. Indian exports of farm to the US are currently facing 5.3 % of duties, while exports of American farms to India face a much higher 37.7 %, creating 32.4 % of the gap.
Business experts said that at the level of a wide sector, potential gaps between India and the US differ throughout the industry.
The gap is 8.6 % for chemicals and drugs, 5.6 % for plastics, 1.4 % for textiles and clothing, 13.3 % for diamonds, gold and jewelry, 2.5 % for iron, steel and basic metals, cars and cars and cars.
The higher the gap in the tariff, the worse the affected sector, the founder of Think Tank Gtri Ajay Srivastava said.
Indian exports to SPAP 30 USA sectors, with six in agriculture and 24 in industry, each facing different impacts on the tariff.
Experts stated that agriculture sectors that could be more affected due to mutual tariffs include fish, meat, processed seafood, shrimp, sugar, cocoa, rice, spices, dairy products, edible oils, wine and spirits.
Similarly, industrial goods that could attract these obligations and can be affected includes the pharmaceutical sector, diamonds, electric and telecommunications equipment, machines, boiler, turbine, computer, certain chemicals, textiles, substances, carpets, tires and shoes.
The sources also said that Indian companies also identified certain non -tariff barriers they face in the US.
Barriers include American ban on wild shrimp exports from India because the Indian trawler vessels did not use the turtle secretion equipment; private standards of American companies; and high registration costs for sectors such as a pharmaceutical.
The Ministry of Trade is developing a portal for registration of non-tariff barriers (NTB), which is facing exporters and accepting the country concerned for their resolution.
“The portal is currently working on beta mode. It can take about two months to formally start. One of the platform parts will be open to the public,” one of the sources said.
Cases where the barrier affects a large volume of goods will be preferred for their remedy.
From 2021-22 to 2023-24, the US was the largest business partner of India. The US represents approximately 18 % of total exports between Indian goods, 6.22 % in imports and 10.73 % in bilateral trade.
With India, America has a trade surplus (difference between import and export) of $ 35.32 billion in $ 2023-24. In the years 2022-23 it was $ 27.7 billion, $ 32.85 billion in the years 2021-22, $ 22.73 billion in the years 2020-21 and $ 17.26 billion in 2019–2020.
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