Trade deal
There is going to be a small trade agreement between the US and India, under which the tariff can be reduced by 20%. According to sources, this deal can give India a better position than the rest of the countries in South Asia. India will not get a tariff demand letter like other countries this week. It is expected that this trade deal will be announced soon through a statement.
According to the ET report, this interim deal will give India a chance to solve pending issues before making a big agreement later. In this deal, there is talk of decreasing the tariff from 26% to 20%. Also, it will have such conditions that both countries can continue the talks on tariffs till the final deal. However, the timeline of this interim deal is not clear yet.
If this deal is final, then India will join selected countries who have done a trade deal with the Trump administration. Recently, US President Donald Trump surprised several trading partners by announcing a tariff of up to 50%, whose deadline is 1 August. The Commerce Ministry of India, White House and American Commerce Department did not respond to this. After this news, the loss in Ishares MSCI India Fund, which is $ 10.2 billion, decreased slightly.
Tariff on other countries
India wants better conditions from 20% tariff deal of Vietnam. Vietnam is surprised by this rate and is trying to reduce it further. Britain is the only country with which Trump has announced the trade deal. Trump told NBC News on Thursday that he is considering putting 15-20% tariff on most trading partners, who have not been informed about the rates yet. Currently global baseline tariff is 10%. In Asian countries, 20% for Vietnam and Philippines and 40% for Laos-Myanmar have been announced.
India had approached the White House for trade tox earlier this year, but recently some signs of tension were seen. Trump had said that the deal was about to be done with India, but he also threatened India’s share in the BRICS group. A team of Indian negotiaters will soon go to Washington.
India has offered
Bloomberg had earlier told that India has given its best offer to the Trump administration and made it clear that it will not cross any limit to finalize the deal. Both countries are adamant on some big issues, such as the US demand that India opened a market for genetically modified crops, which India turned down as a risk for farmers. Both countries have not yet agreed on issues like non-tariff barriers in agriculture and regulatory process in pharma industry.