No duty concessions to US on agri, dairy, GM foods: An explainer
New Delhi, Aug 2 (PTI) India has toughened its stance on extending duty concessions on agri products, dairy and GM foods in the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the US.
With the US not able to finalise a deal with India so far, US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced imposition of an additional 25 per cent import duty on Indian goods entering American markets from August 7.
Earlier, this duty was to be imposed from August 1. The President has also not specified the penalty which he has announced on India for buying crude oil and military equipment from Russia.
Here is a list of Q&A (questions and answers) to explain reasons behind India's stand and impact of US tariffs on labour-intensive sectors: * What is the India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA)? – India and the US entered into negotiations for a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial BTA in March 2025 with a target to complete the first tranche/phase of the pact by fall (October-November) of 2025.
So far, five rounds of talks have been completed. For the next round, the US team, headed by Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, is visiting India from August 25.
* What is the aim of the BTA? – Normally in a trade agreement, two trading partners either significantly reduce or eliminate import duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. Besides, they ease norms to promote trade in services and increase two-way investments.
The India-US BTA is aimed at more than doubling the bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030 from the present USD 191 billion.
*What are the major demands of the two countries from each other in the BTA? – The US wants duty concessions on certain industrial goods, automobiles, especially electric vehicles, wines, petrochemical products, agri goods, dairy items, apples, tree nuts, and genetically-modified crops.
India is seeking the removal of this additional tariff (25 per cent now) and cut in tariffs on steel and aluminium (50 per cent), auto sector (25 per cent), labour-intensive sectors, such as textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, grapes, and bananas.
*How much tariff is imposed by the US on Indian goods at present? – India's average import duty is about 17 per cent, while the US' is 3.3 per cent. On April 2, the US announced to impose 26 per cent duty (16 per cent reciprocal tariff and 10 per cent baseline tariff). At present, only the baseline tariff is in force. It is over and above the existing import duty on Indian goods.
For example, before April 2, the Indian textiles were attracting a 6-9 per cent tariff in America. With the baseline tariff, it rose to 16-19 per cent. But from August 7, the sector will attract a 31-34 per cent duty. The baseline tariff will be replaced by 25 per cent duty notified on July 31 by the White House.
However, certain products are exempted from these tariffs such as pharmaceutical, electronics and energy products.
* From when the 25 per cent duty will come into force? – The duty, announced this week, will come into force from August 7 (9.30 am IST). The executive order has also clarified that goods in transit until October 5, 12:01 am eastern daylight time (EDT), or 09:30 am IST, will be subject to a 10 per cent tariff, provided that such goods have entered into transit before August 7 12:01 am EDT.
*Why India is not ready to provide duty concessions on dairy, agri and GM foods? – Agri: Farm livelihoods are at stake. This is a politically and economically sensitive area as over 700 million people in India's rural economy are dependent on the sector. If India removes tariffs, cheap, subsidised US grains could flood Indian markets during global price crashes.
Unlike the US, where agriculture is corporatised, Indian farming is a livelihood issue. Tariffs are essential to protect small farmers, manage price volatility, and ensure food security.
Dairy: India wants to safeguard its small farmers. GTRI stated that the US argues that India's GM-free feed certification and facility registration protocols effectively bar American dairy imports.
'Indian rules prohibit imports from animals fed with animal-derived feed'�for example, butter from a cow fed meat'�due to religious sensitivities. India considers this policy non-negotiable," GTRI has said.
GM Food: These are created by inserting specific genes, often from bacteria, viruses, other plants, or occasionally animals, into a plant's DNA to introduce new traits, such as pest resistance or herbicide tolerance.
Allowing the import of GM products such as soybean meal and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) for animal feed would affect India's agricultural exports to the EU, a key destination for Indian exporters. PTI RR ANU ANU
view comments
First Published:
August 02, 2025, 13:15 IST
News agency-feeds No duty concessions to US on agri, dairy, GM foods: An explainer
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
Joe Root press conference : On Mohammed Siraj fake anger, why he punched his bat, update on Woakes
Trump Breaks Silence on India & Russia's Oil 'Breakup' | 'New Delhi May Stop…' 'I heard India may stop buying Russian oil,' said US President Donald Trump, calling it a 'good step.' But reports say Indian refiners are still sourcing discounted Russian crude. As U.S. pressure mounts, New Delhi defends its ties with Moscow as 'steady and time-tested,' while balancing key strategic relations with Washington. Will India bow to American pressure or stick with its long-time energy partner? 29.0K views | 1 day ago
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
Nepal, China steel may face duty evasion probe
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence may investigate steel imports from Nepal and China. This action aims to shield the Indian steel industry from substandard products. Nepal has become a major steel exporter to India. Concerns arise about Chinese steel being routed through Nepal. Some Chinese companies are allegedly falsifying quality compliance documents. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence could initiate a probe into steel imports from Nepal and China, a move aimed at protecting the domestic industry from cheap, substandard imports, said people familiar with the comes after Nepal emerged as one of the top three steel exporters to India despite the absence of significant manufacturing facilities, they said."In some instances, a Nepal-based company was exporting steel many times over its nameplate capacity," an official told ET on condition of triggered apprehensions of Chinese steel being routed through Nepal, as alleged by the Indian has unilateral duty-free access to the Indian market, allowing its exporters to send steel products to India without paying any duty. On the contrary, direct exports from China attract at least 12% safeguard share in India's finished steel imports during the first three months of this financial year averaged 15.93%, making the neighbouring country the third largest steel exporter to India during this another instance, China's Shangyang Steel wrote to India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade alleging that other Chinese companies were falsifying documents affirming quality compliance. Shangyang Steel holds a certificate issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)."The company alleged that other Chinese companies were misrepresenting the BIS certificate issued to Shangyang Steel and lying while exporting to India," the official month, the steel ministry issued a clarification saying that not only are finished and semi-finished steel imports required to adhere to quality control orders (QCOs) but also the raw material used as input needs to comply with the quality also found that some Indian importers with a BIS certificate were importing substandard steel products from China or Nepal and doing just cosmetic value addition to them."The QCO norms require importers not only to comply with the coating part for which it has certification, but also to ensure that the base material also sticks to quality norms," the official said.A BIS certificate is enforced through QCO, which the government order mainly affects the traders who act as middlemen in importing steel without adding any value to the steel. "MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) are not affected by this order; it hurts the middle parties, and they are the ones who are creating a furore over this," the official added.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
26 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trump repeats claim he ended India-Pakistan conflict through trade
US President Donald Trump on Sunday yet again took credit for stopping conflicts around the world, including the recent one between India and Pakistan. Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire after a long night of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim on several occasions. Trump's latest claim comes days after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending several conflicts around the world including the one between India and Pakistan. On Sunday, in a post on Truth Social, Trump slammed radio host and author Charlamagne Tha God, and said he (God) knows nothing about him or what he has done, like just ending 5 Wars, including a 31 year bloodbath between Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, where Seven Million people have died, and there was no end in sight. He didn't know that, or India and Pakistan or, wiping out Iran's nuclear capabilities, or closing the horrendous open Border, or creating the greatest economy, Trump said. Just a day earlier, Trump said in an interview on Newsmax that he has settled a lot of wars. You take a look at what's happened just over the last little while. We've settled a lot of, a lot of very beautiful wars have been settled One of the wars India, Pakistan, nuclear, Trump said adding that he settled conflict between Thailand and Cambodia as well as Congo and Rwanda. I settled that up. And I settled it up with trade. I settled a lot of them with trade. I said listen, you guys are going to fight. You can fight all you want. I mean, just fight your hearts out. But we're not doing a trade deal'. All of a sudden they end up not doing a war. I settled a lot of wars. I think I settled averaging about a war a month. But, you know, we're saving millions of lives, he said. Trump on Wednesday announced the imposition of a 25 per cent tariff on all goods coming from India starting August 1, plus an unspecified penalty for buying Russian crude oil and military equipment. The tariff for Pakistan was 19 per cent, lower than the 29 per cent announced by Trump in April. In fact, Trump on Wednesday also announced sealing a trade deal with Pakistan and said that Washington will work with Islamabad to develop what he described as the South Asian nation's massive oil reserves. At a White House press briefing on Thursday, Leavitt said that Trump has now ended conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo and Egypt and Ethiopia. She said that the president has brokered, on average, about one peace deal or ceasefire per month during his six months in office. It's well past time that President Trump was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she said. Since May 10, Trump has repeated his claim nearly 30 times that he helped settle the tensions between India and Pakistan and that he told the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours that America will do a lot of trade with them if they stopped the conflict. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Parliament this week that no leader of any country asked India to stop Operation Sindoor launched by India in retaliation after the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that killed 26 people. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday categorically said there was no third-party intervention in bringing about a ceasefire with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, asserting that the halting of the military action was also not linked to trade as claimed by Trump. Intervening in the special discussion on Operation Sindoor in the Rajya Sabha, Jaishankar said Prime Minister Modi and Trump did not have any phone calls between April 22, when the Pahalgam terror attack took place, and June 16.
