A fresh round of talks between India and US officials has commenced regarding the steel tariffs imposed by the US Administration, with the Indian government considering further delaying the imposition of retaliatory tariffs to give bilateral negotiations a chance to succeed, Indian government officials said on Tuesday, September 18.
The officials in question said that officials from the US Department of Commerce and India’s Ministry of Commerce have started talking on the issue of the 25 percent tariffs on steel exported from India, with one round completed in Delhi and further talks being scheduled for Washington over the next few weeks.
The officials of the two countries are also expected to meet in Paris on the sidelines of the Global Forum on Excess Steel Capacity on September 19-20, the Indian officials said.
The officials stated that, while suggestions on quantitative restrictions on steel exports from India to the US exempted from any tariffs have been turned down by the Indian side, several other options to avoid tariffs on Indian exports are on the table for further discussions, though the officials declined to elaborate on such options.
However, since talks on tariffs on both sides are progressing amid “much optimism,” the Indian commerce ministry has communicated to its counterparts in the Indian finance ministry that the proposed Indian retaliatory tariffs on US exports to India should be kept in abeyance for some more time, the officials added.
Earlier India had proposed retaliatory tariffs of about $241 million on 29 products exported by the US to India.
The retaliatory tariffs were announced on June 20 to be effective from August 4, but the effective date was postponed by 45 days.
The Indian commerce ministry has communicated to the finance ministry not to issue any fresh notification giving effect to the retaliatory tariffs until the current rounds of bi-lateral negotiations are completed, the officials added.