TEHRAN – Indian authorities are mulling reciprocal measures to counterWashington’s unfriendly move to deprive the country of preferential tradestatus with the US, according to the chairman of India’s trade body.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump ordered that India be excluded fromthe Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, starting June 5. Underthe terms of the program, the country is able to export around $5.6 billionworth of its goods to the US duty-free, RT reported.
“India might counter the US decision to withdraw GSP on its exports byimposing retaliatory tariffs from the coming month,” chairman of the TradePromotion Council of India (TPCI) Mohit Singla said.
The move may target some twenty-nine items shipped to India from the US,according to the trade official. The list will reportedly include walnuts,lentils, boric acid and diagnostic reagents and other products.
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“The industry estimates this move will impose an additional burden of $290million per year on US items exported to India,” he added.
The US decision to withdraw the tariff exclusion on Indian goods wasreportedly triggered by Delhi’s refusal to provide American corporationswith unlimited access to India’s booming consumer market. The GSP programallows developing nations tax-free trading with the US, and, in 2017, Indiabecame the program’s biggest beneficiary.
