White House criticises India's 'uniquely burdensome' certification rules hurting US exports

India imposes its own uniquely burdensome or duplicative testing and certification requirements in sectors such as chemicals, telecom products, and medical devices that make it difficult or costly for American companies to sell their products in the country, the White House said.

In a fact sheet, the White House said, “If these barriers were removed, it is estimated that US exports would increase by at least USD 5.3 billion annually.”

The White House said that countries have taken advantage of the US for generations, tariffing it at higher rates. For example, the US imposes a 2.5% tariff on passenger vehicle imports (with internal combustion engines), while the European Union (10%) and India (70%) impose much higher duties on the same product.

“For networking switches and routers, the United States imposes a 0% tariff, but India (10-20%) levies higher rates. Brazil (18%) and Indonesia (30%) impose a higher tariff on ethanol than does the United States (2.5%),” it said.

“For rice in the husk, the U.S. imposes a tariff of 2.7%, while India (80%), Malaysia (40%), and Turkey (31%) impose higher rates. Apples enter the United States duty-free, but not so in Turkey (60.3%) and India (50%),” said the White House.

In his televised address from the Rose Garden of the White, US President Donald Trump said, “India very, very tough -- very, very tough. The prime minister just left, and he's a great friend of mine. But I said you're a friend of mine, but you're not treating us right.”

“They (India) charge us 52 per cent. You have to understand, we charge them almost nothing for years and years and decades,” Trump said as he announced a 26 per cent “discounted reciprocal tariffs” on India.

Trump on Wednesday announced he would impose a 10 per cent minimum tariff on all trading partners as well as double-digit “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of other countries. The reciprocal tariffs will apply to around 60 countries including the European Union, China, the United Kingdom and India. Imports from Canada and Mexico will still face 25 per cent tariffs.

In his executive order, Trump said while World Trade Organisation (WTO) members agreed to bind their tariff rates on a most-favored-nation (MFN) basis, and thereby provide their best tariff rates to all WTO members, they did not agree to bind their tariff rates at similarly low levels or to apply tariff rates on a reciprocal basis.

Consequently, according to the WTO, the US has among the lowest simple average MFN tariff rates in the world at 3.3 per cent, while many of our key trading partners like Brazil (11.2 per cent), China (7.5 per cent), the European Union (EU) (5 per cent), India (17 per cent), and Vietnam (9.4 per cent) have simple average MFN tariff rates that are significantly higher, he said.

“The United States has one of the lowest simple average most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff rates in the world at 3.3%, while many of our key trading partners like Brazil (11.2%), China (7.5%), the European Union (5%), India (17%), and Vietnam (9.4%) have simple average MFN tariff rates that are significantly higher,” the White House said.

Trump noted that the average MFN tariff rates conceal much larger discrepancies across economies in tariff rates applied to particular products.

For example, the US imposes a 2.5 per cent tariff on passenger vehicle imports (with internal combustion engines), while the European Union (10 per cent), India (70 per cent), and China (15 per cent) impose much higher duties on the same product.

Celebrating Trump’s Liberation Day tariff, Senator Tommy Tuberville said Vietnam is dumping billions of pounds of catfish, and India is dumping billions of pounds of shrimp every year in the US markets, flooding the markets and reducing the price for US quality domestic products. “It’s devastating. We need to put a reciprocal tariff on these countries to protect our American producers,” he alleged.

Senator Roger Marshall alleged that India has a very high tariff on agricultural products. “The European Union (has) a 50% tariff on most agricultural products. India, 50% to 100% – they use non-tariff barriers as well. And those farmers and ranchers said, we want free and reciprocal trade agreements. We have a president now who’s out here fighting for long-term solutions for our farmers and ranchers, not just the short-term gain,” he said.

(Courtesy: www.5wh.com)