India may agree to lower import duties and other barriers on certain agricultural products as part of the interim trade deal being negotiated with the US. However, inflows may be largely regulated through measures such as quotas or a minimum import price (MIP), sources have said.
With a team of US officials expected to visit Delhi in June, all efforts are on to ensure that an early trade pact is reached within the month. This is essential to avoid the full blow of US reciprocal tariffs, fixed at 26 per cent for India, on July 8 when the 90-day tariff pause period ends.
“While talks progressed well between the two sides during Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s visit to Washington DC last week, the US is adamant about market access in agriculture. The government is, therefore, weighing how best to give some concessions without hurting the country’s interests,” a source tracking the matter told businessline.
The US has been insistent on lowering of import duties and other barriers by India on a whole range of agricultural products such as corn, soya, apples, cotton, walnuts, poultry, pecan, grapes, almonds, cranberries and also dairy items.
“Lowering import duties on some farm items by fixing quotas (specific quantities only for which the lower duties would apply) or by fixing MIPs, which would check cheaper imports, would lead to greater market access for US farmers while not overwhelming the Indian farmers with very high imports,” the source said.
However, India is continuing to resist pressure on giving concessions on staples like rice and wheat, which are essential for the country’s food security and ensuring livelihood of farmers, the source said.
Another area where the Indian government will find it difficult to yield is allowing import of GM (genetically modified) crops, including soya and corn, as India’s regulations mostly do not permit commercial cultivation or imports of these items.
In a White House fact sheet, India’s farm tariffs were used as one of the examples to point out that trading partners did not give the US reciprocal treatment. “The US average applied Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff on agricultural goods is 5 per cent. But India’s average applied MFN tariff is 39 per cent,” it said. “America will no longer tolerate unfair trade practices,” it added.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has called out India several times for its high tariffs on farm items, including corn, and insisted that all items should be on the negotiating table.
Pointers
*US putting consistent pressure on India to liberalise agriculture
*In interim deal, India may offer concessions subject to quotas, MIP
*Efforts on to seal interim trade deal in June to avoid full reciprocal tariffs on July 8
*Following interim deal, first tranche of India-US BTA likely in Fall’ 2025
Published on May 28, 2025
India may agree to lower import duties and other barriers on certain agricultural products as part of the interim trade deal being negotiated with the US. However, inflows may be largely regulated through measures such as quotas or a minimum import price (MIP), sources have said.
With a team of US officials expected to visit Delhi in June, all efforts are on to ensure that an early trade pact is reached within the month. This is essential to avoid the full blow of US reciprocal tariffs, fixed at 26 per cent for India, on July 8 when the 90-day tariff pause period ends.
“While talks progressed well between the two sides during Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s visit to Washington DC last week, the US is adamant about market access in agriculture. The government is, therefore, weighing how best to give some concessions without hurting the country’s interests,” a source tracking the matter told businessline.
The US has been insistent on lowering of import duties and other barriers by India on a whole range of agricultural products such as corn, soya, apples, cotton, walnuts, poultry, pecan, grapes, almonds, cranberries and also dairy items.
“Lowering import duties on some farm items by fixing quotas (specific quantities only for which the lower duties would apply) or by fixing MIPs, which would check cheaper imports, would lead to greater market access for US farmers while not overwhelming the Indian farmers with very high imports,” the source said.
However, India is continuing to resist pressure on giving concessions on staples like rice and wheat, which are essential for the country’s food security and ensuring livelihood of farmers, the source said.
Another area where the Indian government will find it difficult to yield is allowing import of GM (genetically modified) crops, including soya and corn, as India’s regulations mostly do not permit commercial cultivation or imports of these items.
In a White House fact sheet, India’s farm tariffs were used as one of the examples to point out that trading partners did not give the US reciprocal treatment. “The US average applied Most Favored Nation (MFN) tariff on agricultural goods is 5 per cent. But India’s average applied MFN tariff is 39 per cent,” it said. “America will no longer tolerate unfair trade practices,” it added.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has called out India several times for its high tariffs on farm items, including corn, and insisted that all items should be on the negotiating table.
Pointers
*US putting consistent pressure on India to liberalise agriculture
*In interim deal, India may offer concessions subject to quotas, MIP
*Efforts on to seal interim trade deal in June to avoid full reciprocal tariffs on July 8
*Following interim deal, first tranche of India-US BTA likely in Fall’ 2025
Published on May 28, 2025
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The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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