By Shivangi Acharya and Manoj Kumar
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The United States has flagged considerations over India’s growing and burdensome import-quality necessities, amongst its many limitations to commerce, in a report launched two days earlier than deliberate U.S. reciprocal tariffs take impact.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Monday supplied an encyclopedic checklist of overseas international locations’ insurance policies and laws it regards as limitations, calling out India’s customs limitations, import curbs and licenses, alongside excessive tariffs.
In the midst of President Donald Trump’s efforts to upend the worldwide commerce order and shift it in Washington’s favour, India is without doubt one of the few nations working to decrease tariffs and win over Trump, who has typically referred to as the South Asian nation a “tariff king” and “tariff abuser.”
Both international locations have began talks in direction of clinching an early commerce deal. Last month, Reuters reported India was open to reducing tariffs on greater than half of U.S. imports value $23 billion, the largest minimize in years.
Still, the U.S. has considerations that a few of India’s import necessities will not be internationally aligned, and that some are burdensome or lack clear timelines, the Trump administration mentioned in its newest USTR report.
It wasn’t clear if Trump’s April 2 announcement on tariffs would issue within the findings of the USTR report.
Some of India’s non-tariff limitations have additionally been a stress level in bilateral commerce ties.
Since 2019, India has made many Bureau of India Standards (BIS) requirements necessary for high quality management in sectors together with chemical substances, medical gadgets, batteries, electronics, meals and textiles, the USTR mentioned.
India’s requirements certification authority, which has up to now issued over 700 high quality management orders in round 100 sectors, plans to difficulty 125 new orders in sectors overlaying chemical substances, textiles, metal, aluminum, electrical tools, as per an Indian authorities assertion.
India just isn’t contemplating imposing retaliatory tariffs but in response to Trump’s worldwide reciprocal tariffs, as New Delhi hopes for an exemption, two authorities officers mentioned.
The U.S. has, nevertheless, supplied no assurance on exemptions throughout bilateral talks final week, the officers added.
The USTR’s Monday report additionally highlighted different contentious non-tariff points, together with India’s information privateness regime.
India’s draft guidelines for its so-called Digital Personal Data Protection Act launched final month may require disclosure of private information to the Indian authorities, prohibit cross-border information switch and should permit information localization, the USTR mentioned.
