In a slight shift of its earlier stance, India’s Ministry of Commerce has commenced consultations on approaching the World Trade Organization (WTO) along with its major trading partners against the US tariffs on imported steel, Indian government officials said on Thursday, March 22.
The sources said that, while the Ministry of Commerce previously favored bilateral negotiations with the US administration considering that India’s steel exports to the US account for barely two percent of its total steel exports, pressures have been building up from the domestic steel industry to adopt a more direct approach before the WTO.
The Ministry of Commerce has held several rounds of consultations with various stakeholders since the announcement of the US tariffs and this will be followed up with consultations with India’s trading partners through diplomatic channels, moving towards a joint complaint before the WTO, the sources added.
The point which triggered a more aggressive Indian approach before the WTO is the US decision to impose antidumping duty on stainless steel flange imports to the US, the sources said.
Aruna Sharma, secretary at the Ministry of Steel, said in a statement that, rather than being based on the volume of Indian exports to the US, India's opposition to US tariffs is on a matter of principle, adding that the imposition of tariffs is unilateral and not in line with WTO agreed principles of trade.
