India-U.S. Trade Deal Eases Export Duties for Steel and Aluminum
India-U.S. Trade Deal Eases Export Duties for Steel and Aluminum | OilPrice.com
Via Metal Miner
India-US trade is primed to shift. Both countries seem eager to enter a new period of trade harmony, as India’s Ministries of Mines and Steel, along with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), recently set up an in-house system to oversee the export of steel and aluminum products to the United States at reduced duties.
News articles indicate that the Department of Commerce recently completed the terms of reference concerning the Joint Monitoring Mechanism (JMM). The Department intends the mechanism to facilitate the export of specific steel and aluminum products to the United States without imposing additional duties. For its part, the US has reportedly expressed its concurrence with the suggested terms.
The Indian Departments of Mines, Steel, and the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) are all parties to this mechanism. The aim here is to ensure that if exporters from India face any export-related problem, the issue will be brought to the notice of the Commerce Ministry. That ministry would then take up the problem with its US counterparts during JMM meetings.
Steps Forward for India US Trade Relations
Near the end of 2023, India and the US successfully resolved all disagreements related to India US trade at the World Trade Organization(WTO). After the WTO, the Commerce Ministry said it had decided to delete additional tariffs on aluminum and steel product exports from India to the US up to an annual volume of 3.3 lakh MT. In a reciprocal move, India cut down the retaliatory tariffs on eight imported commodities from the US. However, India will continue to apply additional tariffs on 21 American imports, a reduction from the previous count of 29.
The US has since consented to allowing 336,000 tons of steel and aluminum imports in from India without imposing the supplementary tariffs enacted under a 2018 national security statute during the Trump administration era. The aforementioned tariffs, which included a 25% duty on select steel items and a 10% duty on certain aluminum products, were similarly applied to several other nations, such as China, Russia, Norway, Turkey, and Switzerland.
Furthermore, the new JMM aims to minimize retaliatory tariffs on imports between the two nations. To facilitate this goal, the teams will meet biannually to assess the effectiveness of the tariff reduction strategy outlined in its terms of reference.
India Continues to Seek FTAs with Multiple Nations
It’s well known that the US is India’s largest trading partner. In 2022-23, the goods trade between the two amounted to about US $128.8 billion compared to US $119.5 billion in 2021-22.
India, meanwhile, is actively contemplating moving away from the earlier policy of looking at tariffs as a revenue source. This means lowering tariffs on many items for the first time under new free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries. According to this news report, some of the items included on the list are cars and machinery, among others.
As part of the discussion on FTAs, there are ongoing deliberations between the Finance Ministry and the Commerce Ministry to evaluate the consequences of significant tariff reductions that might become apparent. Meanwhile, India is actively engaged in FTA negotiations with the United Kingdom, the European Union (EU), Australia, and Oman. Through these negotiations, India may significantly reduce duties on a range of goods and services. Some experts say this aligns with other South Asian and ASEAN nations who have decided to cut tariffs.
ADVERTISEMENT
By Sohrab Darabshaw
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Over 100 Ships Transit Red Sea Route Despite Calls to Stay Away
Qatar Halts Red Sea LNG Shipments As Regional Tensions Escalate
NATO Allies Unite to Demine the Black Sea
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”