New Delhi: Rejecting the US claims of imposing ‘tremendously high’ tariffs, India said Tuesday its import duties are not high and are within the norms of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
“We do not agree with that (US claims) at all. Our tariffs (import duties) are very consistent with the bound rates that we are entitled to in the WTO,” Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan told reporters here. “Our tariffs are very comparable to more liberal developing economies and some developed economies,” he added.
Duties which are imposed on imported goods are called ‘applied rates’ and the extent to which a country can increase those duties are known as ‘bound rates’. India’s trade weighted average tariff is 7.6 per cent, which is comparable with the most open developing economies, and some developed economies.
The commerce ministry, in a statement, said on developmental considerations, there may be a few tariff peaks, which is true for almost all economies.
US President Donald Trump had claimed that India is a ‘tariff king’ and imposes ‘tremendously high’ tariffs on American products like Harley Davidson motorcycles.
Trump has said he intends to end the preferential trade status granted to India, asserting that New Delhi has failed to assure America of ‘equitable and reasonable’ access to its markets. The US has also been raising the issue of trade deficit with India. The bilateral trade was USD 74.5 billion in 2017-18 against USD 64.5 billion in 2016-17.
The commerce ministry mentioned that due to various initiatives resulting in enhanced purchase of US goods like oil and natural gas and coal, the US trade deficit with India has substantially reduced in 2017 and 2018.
“The reduction is estimated to be over USD 4 billion in 2018, with further reduction expected in future years on account of factors like the growing demand for energy and civilian aircraft in India,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.
PTI