Trump sneers at India again over tariff hike

“India has long had a field day putting Tariffs on American products. No longer acceptable!”, US President Donald Trump tweeted yet again on Tuesday. An ardent champion of the ‘America First’ policy, he has termed India as a “tariff king”. While the bilateral relationship between these 2 economic giants has bloomed over the years, it has been dented by the row over market access and tariff escalations, leading to fears of a protracted dispute with larger ramifications.

Last month, India increased tariffs on 28 commodities exported from the US in retaliation to America’s withdrawal of preferential access (Generalized System of Preference / GSP) for Indian products. It was withdrawn on the grounds of lack of “equitable and reasonable access” for US to Indian markets. Other issues affecting their bilateral ties include data localisation concerns of American companies & India’s case against US in WTO over imposition of import duties on steel and aluminium.