Congress demands halt to US-India trade deal amid tariff tensions
The 10 per cent tariff is to apply for 150 days under US law and will be effective February 24
Hours after the US Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariff policy was unconstitutional, Congress demanded the immediate suspension of the Indo-US trade deal until further clarity is obtained.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said, in the wake of the latest developments, India should place the agreement on hold and renegotiate the deal in the interest of Indian farmers in particular, and industry in general.
"The framework of the India-US interim trade agreement should be placed on hold, and the first point of the agreement, where India has agreed to remove or reduce import duties on a range of US products, should be renegotiated," Jairam said.
He said the agreement itself gives India the power to revise the deal, as one of the provisions states that any country in the agreement can revise the tariff nuances should there be any changes in relation to the deal and its broad framework.
The US Supreme Court orders have led to changes in US tariff policy, with Trump announcing a broad 10% tariff across nations, including India, which was otherwise to face 18 per cent reduced reciprocal tariffs under the framework agreement of the trade deal.
The 10 per cent tariff is to apply for 150 days under US law and will be effective February 24. Jairam said that before the agreement was negotiated, 45 per cent of Indian exports to the US attracted zero tariffs, and the rest attracted tariffs.
"This translated into an average tariff of just 3.5 per cent on Indian exports to the US. This will now be 10%. What are we gaining? The PM should explain," said Jairam Ramesh.
He alleged that Trump's February 2 announcement of the India-US deal "at the request of PM Modi" was triggered because "PM asked for the announcement to deflect attention from Rahul Gandhi's remarks made earlier that same day on PM surrendering Indian interests."
