India revises proposed retaliatory duties against U.S. over steel, aluminium tariffs: WTO

India has revised its proposal to impose retaliatory duties under the WTO (World Trade Organisation) norms against the U.S. over American tariffs on steel and aluminium in view of the further hike in duty by the Trump administration.

The U.S. first imposed 25% tariffs on imports of aluminium, steel, and derivative articles on March 12. On June 3, the taxes were raised to 50%.

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“Without prejudice to its earlier notification to the Council for Trade in Goods and the Committee on Safeguards dated May 12, India reserves its right to adjust the products and tariff rates. This request is made in response to the increase in the tariff rate by the U.S. from 25% ad valorem to 50%,” the WTO has said in a communication on Wednesday.

This was circulated among WTO members at the request of India.

The communication said the proposed suspension of concessions or other obligations can take the form of an increase in tariffs on select products originating in the U.S.

“The safeguard measures would affect $7.6 billion imports into the United States of the relevant products originating in India, on which the duty collection would be $3.82 billion,” it said.

Accordingly, India’s proposed suspension of concessions would result in an equivalent amount of duty collected from products originating in the U.S.

In the May 12 communication, the duty collection figure was stated as $1.91 billion.

The first Trump administration, in 2018, imposed a 25% duty on certain steel items and a 10% duty on aluminium products on the grounds of national security. In retaliation, India in June 2019 slapped customs duties on 28 U.S. products, including almonds and walnuts. India had also filed a complaint in the WTO.

The proposal assumes significance as both countries are negotiating a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). The Indian team is expected to visit Washington next week for trade talks.