India has proposed to impose retaliatory duties on selected US products to counter the additional US duties on India-origin steel and aluminium products, government sources said here on Tuesday, May 13.
India has notified the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of its intention to do away with the concession or other obligations in response to the tariffs imposed by the US on the said products originating in India, the sources said.
The US under the Donald Trump administration has revised the safeguard measures on imports of steel and aluminium articles, which came into effect from March for an unlimited duration. Now, it has imposed a 25 percent tariff. This would result in the collection of $1.9 billion in duties on over $7.6 billion worth of steel and aluminium imports in the US from India, a WTO notification said.
In response to such a tariff, India has proposed to levy an equivalent amount of duties on selected products originating in the US.
This is not the first time that the US has imposed a safeguard duty on steel imported from India. The first Trump administration in 2018 had imposed additional duties on steel and aluminium of 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively. India had then retaliated in 2019 by imposing additional tariffs on imports of select goods from the US.
However, both parties had agreed to end the duty-dispute under the Joe Biden presidency. In all, seven WTO disputes were ended by India and the US through negotiations.