INDIA will address its future trade relationship with the United States with a “very open mind”, Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said yesterday, just days before heavy extra US tariffs are due to hit imports from the country.
India-US trade talks collapsed over India – the world’s fifth-largest economy – resisting opening its vast agricultural and dairy sectors. Bilateral trade between the two countries is worth over $190 billion.
Indian exports face US duties of up to 50 per cent – among the highest imposed by Washington – after President Donald Trump announced extra tariffs as a punishment for New Delhi’s increased purchases of Russian oil.
Currently, a 25pc tariff on the import of Indian goods into the US has come into effect, while the remaining 25pc is set to be enforced from August 27.
Goyal, speaking at an Economic Times forum in New Delhi, said India is addressing the issue of trade with US with a “very open mind, a positive outlook and the confidence that India-US relationship is very consequential and very important to both the countries.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed not to compromise the interests of the country’s farmers and is taking cautious steps to ease the relationship with China with his first visit in seven years.
Goyal said that warming of relations with China should not be linked with the India-US trade talks.
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