LAHORE: Ahead of a planned meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at this week’s G20 Summit in Japan, US President Donald Trump has viewed that India’s tariff hike was ‘unacceptable’ and has demanded withdrawal of retaliatory tariffs that New Delhi had imposed this month on numerous products ranging from walnuts to pulses, hence creating quite an unease over the depth of bilateral security alliance forged by the two nations.
Here follows Trump’s June 27 tweet in this context: “I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the tariffs even further. This is unacceptable and the tariffs must be withdrawn”.
It is worth mentioning that the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is already in India trying to settle a host of serious issues like access to Indian markets for American firms, New Delhi’s demand for foreign companies to store Indian data in the country, and exports of steel and aluminum to the United States etc with New Delhi.
The sudden introduction of new e-commerce rules by India for foreign investors in February this year has infuriated the Americans businesses as the move signified the world’s largest democracy’s visible intent to tighten grip around two of the largest American conglomerates, M/s Walmart and Amazon.com incorporated. The “Gulf News” writes: “The tariffs on almost 30 American products came in response to higher duties imposed by the US and Trump’s move on June 1 to end trade concessions on $6.3 billion of Indian goods. Modi’s administration repeatedly deferred the move, originally announced in June last year as it sought to relieve trade tensions through talks. The trade dispute is among several hampering closer US-India cooperation just as Trump’s administration also seeks Modi’s help in countering China in the region. The two countries have also sparred over India’s desire to buy the Russian-made S-400 missile defence system and purchase of oil from Iran, moves that would run counter to the US sanctions”.
The UAE media house adds: “India’s trade ministry did not immediately respond to a “Reuters” email seeking comment. Trump’s remarks could further worsen a trade row that has led to tit-for-tat tariffs from India and the United States and created unease over the depth of their security alliance. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was in New Delhi on Wednesday sought to reduce heightened trade tension with India, promising a renewed focus on negotiating better ties, but giving few specifics of how they would overcome disputes over trade and investment. Trump scrapped trade privileges for India under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), under which New Delhi was the biggest beneficiary that allowed duty-free exports of up to $5.6 billion.”
The “Gulf News” had more to say: “India initially issued an order in June last year to raise import taxes as high as 120% on a slew of US items, incensed by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from higher steel and aluminum tariffs. But New Delhi repeatedly delayed raising tariffs as the two nations engaged in trade talks. Trade between them stood at $142.1 billion in 2018”.
