Following the US Supreme Court’s ruling on President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said the government is following a ‘wait and watch’ approach as it is an evolving situation. Instead of chasing a deadline, he said the approach remains to seek win-win arrangements that bring India competitive advantage.
Following the US Supreme Court’s ruling on President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the government is following a wait and watch approach as it is an evolving situation.
In an interview at the Rising Bharat Summit, Goyal said the government remains committed to securing Indian interests in any final agreement with the United States. He, however, refused to give any deadline.
Outlining the approach to deal-making, Goyal said the government seeks win-win arrangements that bring India competitive advantage.
Unlike previous governments where they made trade deals with competitors, the Narendra Modi government has been making deals with advanced economies from a position of strength where we seek advantage over our competitors, said Goyal.
Earlier this month, India and the United States announced that they had arrived at a framework to finalise a trade deal under which Indian goods and services will be tariffed at 18 per cent in the United States and American goods will face 0 per cent tariff in India. The trade deal was supposed to be signed in March but the timeline is uncertain after the US Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump’s tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were illegal.
Last week, an Indian delegation was supposed to travel to the United States to finalise trade talks but the visit was cancelled after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
When asked whether India should have waited until after the ruling to announce the trade deal, Goyal highlighted the case was proceeding under the US legal system since May and India-US trade talks were therefore never dependent on the case.
‘International trade is about competitive advantage’
Comparable to India’s neighbours and competitors, India has secured a much better trade deal with the United States that did not just bring down tariffs from 50 per cent to 18 per cent but has plenty of other provisions as well, said Goyal without going into the specifics.
Goyal said that international trade is about competitive advantage and that is the objective of trade deals.
As for negotiations with the United States, Goyal said that the trade deal has excluded agriculture, dairy, genetically modified (GM) crops, and soybeans. Instead, he said, the trade deal would open US markets for more exports of pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and electronics.
After the US Supreme Court’s ruling, Trump announced a 10 per cent tariff on all countries under a different legal provision and then raised it to 15 per cent. However, under this provision, the upper limit of tariffs is 15 per cent and they need congressional approval after 150 days.
Goyal stressed that negotiations are ongoing and referred to the India-US joint statement that said the agreement in the make shall be reevaluated should the circumstances change.
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