India, as of now, does not plan on taking any retaliatory action specifically on US President Donald Trump’s move to impose 25-percent tariffs on steel and aluminium given that the impact on Indian exports of these metals is expected to be minimal, a government official said.
"This time there are no exemption on the higher tariffs levied by US on steel and aluminium, and there is little impact on India, right now we are on a good bilateral path with America, let us follow that good path," this official said.
Under Trump 1.0, India retaliated by raising tariffs on US goods such as almonds and apples in response to America imposing higher levies on Indian steel and aluminium.
The official explains, this time around steeper tariffs on these metals by US aren’t targeted specifically towards India, adding that New Delhi is more focussed on the proposed trade deal with America where talks have progressed to ensure a mutually-beneficial deal.
To be sure, while India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended the imposition of a 12 percent provisional safeguard duty ad valorem for 200 days on select steel products, an industry official clarifies that this has more to do with checking cheaper imports from China.
"The proposal to levy a safeguard duty on certain steel imports came before Trump took over as President and has nothing to do with his recent step to impose steeper tariffs on these products," the industry official added.
India's steel secretary, earlier this month, said that the industry does not see a major impact from tariffs imposed by US on steel imports as they do not export much steel to the country.
"To US, we export less than 100,000 metric tonnes," Sandeep Poundrik told reporters on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi.
However, stakeholders such as EEPC India have been raising the issue of Indian metal exports being hurt by US's steeper tariffs on steel and aluminium, which came into effect on March 12.
Pankaj Chadha, Chairman EEPC India said that the country's exporters belonging to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) category are worried owing to the 25-percent tariffs levied by Trump's administration on every country that sells steel and aluminium to the United States.
"Total exports of $5 billion could be hit by the recent tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. Out of the total amount, iron and steel products comprise $3 billion, mainly covering MSME exporters. Since voyage time to the US is approximately 60 days, about $1 billion is on high seas, which will be affected by higher duties levied by America," Chadha added.
Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) pointed out, "strangely, India imports more iron and steel (excluding finished products) and aluminium products from the US than it exports, meaning that if India retaliates, the US would face a bigger impact in these sectors."
During calendar year 2024, while India exported $494.2 million to the US in iron and steel, it imported a higher amount of $842 million. In aluminium and aluminium products, trade is nearly balanced, with exports at $859.8 million and imports slightly higher at $898.9 million, GTRI added.
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