(HT)
India has proposed levies on some US goods in response to Washington’s duties on steel and aluminium, marking its first retaliation against US President Donald Trump’s tariff regime, even as the two countries move closer to finalizing a trade deal.
The South Asian nation has informed the World Trade Organization (WTO) that the US tariffs on these metals are “safeguard measures”—trade restrictions—that will adversely impact India’s trade, according to a notification on Monday.
New Delhi reserves its right to “suspend concessions or other obligations” as a counter measure to the US duties, the notification said, citing WTO rules.
The move marks India’s first retaliatory action during Trump’s second term. Just last month, even as the US president announced a flurry of new tariffs, New Delhi had signalled it would refrain from any tit-for-tat moves, choosing instead to prioritize negotiations toward a bilateral trade deal. Both countries aim to finalize the agreement by this fall.
“India’s latest WTO action comes at a delicate moment,” said Ajay Srivastava, founder of New Delhi-based think-tank Global Trade Research Initiative. “New Delhi and Washington are exploring a broader free trade agreement, and this retaliation could cast a shadow over negotiations.”
According to the WTO notification, India said that Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs would impact $7.6 billion worth of Indian exports, on which the duty collection would be $1.91 billion.
“Accordingly, India’s proposed suspension of concessions would result in an equivalent amount of duty collected from products originating in the United States,” it said, without specifying the commodities impacted.
Early this year, Trump slapped 25% levies on all US imports of steel and aluminium effective March 12 as part of his plans to reshape trade ties with the rest of the world. Indian exporters at the time had urged New Delhi to counter Washington’s tariffs.
In accordance with WTO rules, India had requested consultation with the US in April regarding the hike. However, Washington declined, asserting that the tariffs were imposed on national security grounds and did not qualify as safeguard measures.
Pankaj Chadha, chairman of the Engineering Exports Promotion Council, welcomed India’s retaliation as a “positive development” and said that the move may help his industry get some exemption from US tariffs.
