Amid the Donald Trump administration’s threat to impose reciprocal tariffs from April 2, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday commerce minister Piyush Goyal, who is currently in the US for bilateral talks will seek to protect Indian exporters’ interest.
Speaking at a post-budget interaction in Visakhapatnam, she said the negotiations have to be watched. “The commerce minister has gone to the US to initiate discussions, and all of us are sharing inputs to protect the interest of exporters,” Sitharaman said.
Responding to a query on Trump calling India’s high auto tariffs as unfair, she said that the tariffs charged by India were consistent with WTO norms. “What prevails today as tariffs are to protect our own industry. Our industry is developing, and tariffs are consistent with WTO norms. We will keep India’s interest in mind during negotiations,” Sitharaman said.
Trump’s reiteration on Tuesday that “reciprocal tariffs” on all US imports will take effect from April 2 might have put the Indian team led by Goyal that is currently in the US to hammer out a bilateral multi-sector trade pact on the back foot, trade experts have said. Trump’s remarks and his singling out of India for charging “auto tariffs higher than 100%” in his address to the joint session of the US Congress, have at once enhanced the negotiating room for the US, they said.
Ahead of Goyal’s US visit, consultations had taken place between the government and key stakeholders.
Trump’s comments came hours after the US imposed additional 25% import duties on all major imports from Canada and Mexico, and put an additional 10% tariff on China. While Canada and China retaliated immediately, the US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick later sought to deescalate the situation a bit by saying a deal was possible with both countries that would lead to lower tariffs “landing somewhere in the middle”.