NEW YORK: The US said India will lower tariffs on a “vast array” of American industrial and agricultural goods, such as “fruits, vegetables”, to zero per cent under the trade deal announced by President Donald Trump
The US described this as a “big win” while noting that India will continue to control “certain key areas” that enjoy protection.
"This is it. The time has come, and now we have the deal. We'll finish papering it, but we know the specifics. We know the details. It's a very exciting opportunity,” United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Tuesday in an interview to CNBC Squawk Box.
Greer said that the US will continue to maintain some level of tariff against India -18 per cent - “because we have this giant trade deficit with them, but they've also agreed to reduce their tariffs for us on a variety of agricultural products, manufactured goods, chemicals, medical devices, etc. It's an exciting opportunity for both countries,” he said.
Giving details of the deal, Greer added that with India right now, on industrial goods, the average tariff is about 13.5 per cent.
"That's going to go to zero for virtually everything. When I say virtually, I mean 98-99%. On the agricultural side, there's a vast, vast array of agricultural goods. So it will go to zero,” he said.
"India, like every country in the world, including the United States, has some protection around certain key areas where they'll continue to control that. We’ll continue to work on access. But for a variety of things, tree nuts, wine, spirits, fruits, vegetables, etc, they're going down to zero. This is a big win,” Greer said.
Separately, the USTR said in a post on X that “India will lower tariffs on a wide array of US industrial and agricultural goods to 0%. President Trump’s historic deal with India delivers unprecedented market access for American farmers and producers.”
On the non-tariff barriers, he said that getting rid of tariffs is one thing, but often, the non-tariff barriers pose problems.
"So we have an understanding and agreement with the Indians as well on a variety of technical barriers to trade areas where they have not accepted US standards."
“We know American goods are safe, we know they're effective, etc. We have effective regulation in the US, sometimes too effective. So we have an agreement with them on a process for recognising certain US standards. They obviously have their own political considerations, and they have their own processes for accepting those standards, but that's a key portion of this trade agreement that should open up this market of over a billion people to US goods,” Greer said.
When asked about Delhi’s Russian oil purchases, Greer said that prior to 2022-23, India really didn't import Russian crude.
"They took advantage of a situation where Russian crude was trading at a discount because they couldn't get it to any other countries because of sanctions. President Trump very accurately...put the Indians on notice that we view this as supporting the Russian war effort."
“And starting at the end of last year, the Indians started winding down their purchase of Russian oil. We've been monitoring that. They've been diversifying purchases of energy from the US, not just oil, but also gas, propane, and other things. That's been going up. We'll keep monitoring that. Obviously, they want to diversify from other sources too, whether it's Venezuela or the Gulf, etc. There are a lot of opportunities to do this. The Indians are making the right choice,” Greer said.
In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump had said that, effective immediately, the two sides agreed to a trade deal under which the US will lower its reciprocal tariff imposed on India from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. India will also move forward to reduce its tariffs and non-tariff barriers against the United States to “zero".
“The Prime Minister also committed to ‘BUY AMERICAN’, at a much higher level, in addition to over $500 BILLION DOLLARS of U.S. Energy, Technology, Agricultural, Coal, and many other products.
“Our amazing relationship with India will be even stronger going forward. Prime Minister Modi and I are two people who GET THINGS DONE, something that cannot be said for most,” Trump said.
US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins also thanked Trump for “once again” delivering for American farmers.
“New US-India deal will export more American farm products to India's massive market, lifting prices, and pumping cash into rural America,” Rollins had said in a post on X.
Noting that in 2024, America’s agricultural trade deficit with India was $1.3 billion, she said India’s growing population is an “important market” for American agricultural products and the deal will go a long way to reducing this deficit.
“America First victory on top of the dozens of deals for agriculture,” Rollins had said.