New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Friday said the United States had not imposed country-specific, including reciprocal tariffs, on India. This was the response of the minister of state (MoS) for commerce and industry Jitin Prasada to a question in Rajya Sabha. “The United States has issued a Memorandum on Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs on February 13, 2025, wherein the Secretary of Commerce and United States Trade Representative are to take necessary actions to investigate harm to the US from any non-reciprocal trade arrangements adopted by trading Partners and provide a report with detailed proposed remedies for each trading Partner, based on which, US action against relevant trading partner could, thereafter be undertaken under any of the relevant US legislations,” the minister said.
Earlier, Trump had criticised the high tariffs charged by India. The US President had said India was a very high-tariff nation. Trump had reiterated that reciprocal tariffs on countries that impose levies on American goods would come into effect from April 2.
“As of date, there has been no imposition of country-specific, including reciprocal tariffs by the US on India. There has been the imposition of additional duties on steel and aluminium imports by the US from all countries without any exemption,” the minister said in response to a question by CPI(M) MP John Brittas, as quoted by Hindustan Times.
“The impact of these duties which are an enhancement over existing additional duties, is being closely evaluated due to the fact that there are no exemptions as compared to exemptions earlier to certain major exporting countries in these sectors,” Prasada added.
The minister added that both the countries continue to engage with each other to achieve “enhancement and broadening of bilateral trade ties in a mutually beneficial and fair manner.”
“Both nations released a joint statement on February 13, 2025, reaffirming their commitment to deepening economic ties. Under the ambitious “Mission 500″, both countries aim to more than double US-India trade to USD 500 billion by 2030 to be achieved by deepening the trade relationship across multiple sectors,” the minister added.