No agreement yet with US on trade tariffs, talks on: Commerce Secy Sunil Barthwal informs parliamentary panel

Speaking at the Oval Office on Friday, Trump had said, “India charges us massive tariffs, massive you can’t even sell anything in India. It’s almost… it is restrictive. You know, we do very little business inside. They have agreed, by the way. They want to cut their tariffs way down now because somebody’s finally exposing them for what they have done.”

The statement did not elicit any immediate response from Delhi, with officials indicating that the Indian establishment was not going to take the bait, especially when the ground was being prepared for negotiations on a bilateral trade pact.

It is learnt that Barthwal said India was for free trade and wanted its liberalisation, which would result in an increase of trade between the two countries. He told the committee that a tariff war would not serve any purpose, would not help anyone, including the US, and could lead to a recession.

On members of the committee asking why India was not raising its voice against tariffs, as done by Canada and Mexico, he said the two were not comparable as the US had security concerns and border immigration issues with them.

Barthwal is learnt to have told the committee that India will sign a “mutually beneficial agreement”. He said India will protect any industry which is crucial to its domestic economy, saying that developing countries cannot lower their tariffs on everything.

India can reduce tariffs mutually bilaterally but not multilaterally and that is why a bilateral trade agreement was being worked out, he told the panel.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri reportedly informed the panel about India’s ties with China and Europe. He said the construction of a dam on the river Brahmaputra in south-eastern China was an issue of concern for India, as China has earmarked funds for its development in its plan outlay.