According to Congressional reports, retaliatory tariffs proposed by India against the United States agricultural products will have an extreme impact on the US exports which are worth nearly about $900 million.
According to news reports, India has last year, announced a higher imports on several US products such as lentils, apples, chickpeas, almonds and walnuts in retaliation to the US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a heavy tariffs on imported aluminum and steel items, a move by the US that has sparked fears of a global trade war.
However, despite of its announcement more than six months ago, India stood only one major country that has continuously postponed implementation of retaliatory tariffs.
Trump has described India as a “tariff king” in October, as he reiterated his allegations that India has a huge tariff rate on many American products.
China has been followed by Turkey ($250 million), Canada ($2.6 billion), the European Union ($1 billion) and Mexico ($2.5 billion) in hitting the retaliatory tariffs on the agricultural products from the US.
Several countries have imposed tariffs on several American agricultural products in order to retaliate against the move taken by Trump’s administration, which took place in March 2018, to protect the US steel and aluminum producers.
Ever since, over 800 US agricultural and food products have been situated to retaliatory tariffs from the EU, China, Mexico, Turkey and Canada, stated by the bipartisan Congressional Research Services (CRS) in a report “profile and effect of retaliatory tariffs on US agricultural exports”.
According to the US Department of agricultural (USDA) export data, the US export to retaliatory countries estimated about $26.9 billion in 2017.
CRS said, “Canada, China, Mexico, the EU, and Turkey retaliated with tariffs on imports of US agricultural and food products and other goods.”
CRS further stated: “India has proposed retaliatory tariffs on US apples, almonds, walnuts, chickpeas and lentils, but it has delayed implementation pending ongoing negotiations with the Trump administration.”
In reports, CRS said in a response to Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on the US imports of aluminum and steel from India earlier in 2017, India has clearly threatened to impose several retaliatory tariffs on US agricultural and food products. Expected date to impose is on January 31, 2019.
The CRS said: “US exports of the targeted products were valued at USD 857 million in 2017, comprising 54 percent of the $ 1.8 billion of total US agricultural exports to India. US almond growers, in particular, could feel the effects of India’s threatened tariffs should they enter into force.”
India has ranked at third position for US apple exports in 2017 worth $97 million.
The CRS said, “The Indian government proposes to apply a 30 percent retaliatory tariff on imports of US apples on January 31, 2019 “
India’s export in 2017-2018 to the US stood at $47.9 billion, whereas imports stood at $26.7 billion.