NDA ally Chandrababu is first CM to flag US tariffs: ‘Must take precautions considering impact on agri exports’

On July 31, US President Donald Trump announced the tariffs on India, and warned of additional penalties. Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party is an NDA partner both at the state and the Centre, is the first CM to raise the issue.

While addressing farmers in Darsi in Prakasam district, Naidu assured aqua farmers that his government will extend all help to them to overcome the 25 per cent US tariffs. “My government is providing support to aqua farmers by providing them electricity at Rs 1.50 per unit. The increase in tariff by the US will burden aqua farmers in the state. We have taken it into consideration and we act upon it. I have called for a meeting with all aqua farmers. We will discuss with them the issue and prepare an action plan to absorb that extra burden,’’ he said.

In April, Naidu had written to the Centre to shield the state’s aquaculture products and aqua sector from the heavy tariffs being levied by the Trump administration. In a letter to the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, the Chief Minister asked the Centre to come to the rescue of aqua farmers by making efforts to exempt aqua products from this additional duty.

Informing the Union Minister that the fisheries sector is playing a crucial role in the State’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Naidu said that the Centre should stand by the aqua farmers when they are in deep crisis. The Chief Minister mentioned in the letter that the US Administration has imposed a 27 per cent import duty on marine food exports from India.

In 2023-24 fiscal marine food products worth $2.55 billion were exported from India to the US of which shrimp alone accounted for 92 per cent, he stated. The US is imposing a duty of only 10 per cent on exporters like Ecuador which indirectly harms India while benefiting such countries, he wrote.