The government is in wait-and-watch mode on tariffs that the US might roll out from August 1. Officials said they would not be in a position to plan for any contingency until differential tariffs come into play.
While India and the US hold fifth round of talks on the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) and might escape high reciprocal tariffs when compared to its competitors any planning for future action will have to wait, an official said.
The officials also said that they are “not in a position to guesstimate tariffs” and any backup plan will be prepared based on how things proceed.
The BTA was announced in February. In March both sides finalised the Terms of Reference of the agreement. After that there were two rounds of discussions in April and June. In early July also negotiators met.The firth round of talks started on Monday. India’s chief negotiator, Special Secretary Rajesh Agrawal will be joining the team on Wednesday. The talks are expected to continue till Thursday.
In the last round of talks the Indian side had spelled their offers and limits of liberalisation to the US side and now await their decision.
The latest round of meetings come in the midst of President Donald Trump issuing letters to individual countries and economic blocs notifying them of the tariffs the US will impose on their shipments to the US after August 1. While unilaterally imposing tariffs, the US has left the door open to negotiations for all the recipients.
The US has shot-off letters to 24 countries and the European Union (EU) imposing tariffs that are as high as 50% on Brazil. With the UK and Vietnam the US has said that a deal has been concluded. However, with Vietnam the full clarity is yet to emerge as Trump has claimed that duties of 20% will be imposed on Vietnamese imports but officials in Hanoi point out that they had agreed to just 11% duties.
The countries that are at the receiving end of Trump tariffs include some of its biggest trading partners and close allies like the European Union, Mexico, Japan, Korea and Canada. There is a possibility that more letters may be issued as the August 1 deadline comes to an end.