India’s ‘applied tariffs’ to US only 7-8%, not humongous

Mumbai: Union Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said the “applied tariffs” to the US are only 7-8 per cent, which he described as not humongous.

Declining to disclose details on the ongoing negotiations with the US, which has slapped a 26 per cent “reciprocal tariff” on the country, Goyal said India believes it can have bilateral trade pacts with countries that exercise fair trade practices.

Lashing out at China, the minister said the northern neighbour’s unfair practices have brought the world to the current juncture, and made it clear that car maker BYD’s entry to India is not welcome at the current juncture.

Asserting that we are not in an era of de-globalisation but one of re-globalisation, Goyal said the current turmoil could provide a good opportunity for India if countries respecting fair practices come together.

On the US tariff predicament, Goyal explained that India’s tariffs are a protection against unfair trade and a shield against economies indulging in aspects like dumping.

Acknowledging that the overall Indian tariffs on the US work out at 17 per cent, Goyal said that a lot of them pertain to goods which India doesn’t import at all. “Our applied tariff to the United States is probably seven or eight per cent. It’s not humongous,” he said.

To a question on how the US applied tariffs on India despite the close ties and the personal equations between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Goyal said it is not about a friend or a foe and the levies have been announced in a formula-based manner.

The minister wondered how the US would be able to implement the recently announced reciprocal tariffs, pointing out that we have seen episodes of the barriers being circumvented by means like goods entering a third country with lower tariffs for entry into the US as it happened in the case of Vietnam after Trump imposed higher tariffs on China in his first stint. We have not heard the end of the story yet, Goyal said, adding that one cannot be sure how trade diversion will be safeguarded.

Goyal said the ongoing changes in the US trade policy will not impact domestic growth so much because India is not an export-dependent economy. The rupee is not as volatile as peer emerging market currencies, the minister said, adding that Indian equities are “fortunate” to be at the bottom of the table of markets impacted by Trump’s disruptive

policies.