Amid import duty hike by the US, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary has said that India is engaged with the US for an amicable solution on the issue of imposing retaliatory customs duties against America’s move to hike tariffs on certain steel and aluminium products. The country has notified imposition of retaliatory tariffs on 29 commodities which would come into effect from August 4. He also said the US had unilaterally hiked import duties on Indian steel and aluminium imports.
The minister further said India has already filed a request for consultations with the US on the imposition of additional duties of 25% on imports of steel and 10% on aluminium, at World Trade Organisation (WTO). Besides, seeking consultation is the first step of dispute settlement process. If the two nations are not able to reach a mutually agreed solution through consultation, India may request for a WTO dispute settlement panel to review the matter.
In 2017-18, India exported steel and steel products worth $1.98 billion to the US out of which exports of $0.62 billion fall under the tariff lines on which America has imposed customs duties of 25%. Chaudhary said that as per the report of the investigation conducted by US Department of Commerce, out of 35,927,141 tonnes of steel products imported by the US in 2017, imports from India were only 854,026 tonnes, around 2.4% of total US imports.
Separately, the minister said that the WTO had set up a panel to check India's compliance with last year's ruling on solar power programme. He added that this was set up on India's request to prove that India has fully complied with the recommendations and rulings of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. The US has filed a retaliation request stating that India has not complied fully with the recommendations and panel rulings of the dispute settlement body of the WTO.
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