The Fence Post
India, US announce trade deal; there’s ag uncertainty
Hagstrom Report
President Trump announced a trade deal with India on Monday, but there are few details and analysts say the prospects for the deal are uncertain.
Trump said on Truth Social that India agreed to stop buying oil from Russia and buy from the United States and Venezuela, which should “help END THE WAR in Ukraine.”
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC that the deal would reduce India’s tariffs on American industrial goods to zero from about 13.5% and eliminate duties on U.S. tree nuts, fruits, vegetables, wine and spirits. In exchange, the United States will reduce its tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 50%.
Greer did not mention any new U.S. access to India’s markets for rice, beef, soybeans, sugar or dairy, which are highly guarded commodities that India excluded from its recent trade deal with the European Union, Reuters pointed out.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the U.S. will “export more American farm products to India’s massive market, lifting prices, and pumping cash into rural America,” helping reduce the United States’ $1.3 billion agricultural trade deficit with India, BBC reported.
Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said Tuesday that sensitive sectors such as agriculture and dairy have been protected in the deal, but opposition parties disrupted Parliament over the deal’s potential impact on agriculture, the Associated Press reported.
The International Dairy Foods Association headlined the U.S.-India deal “emerging” in a news release.
IDFA President and CEO Michael Dykes said, “IDFA supports a stronger U.S.-India trade relationship and is grateful to President Trump and his administration as well as the government of India for working toward that common goal.”
Shrimp is one of the Indian sectors that could benefit, The Times of India said.
High tariffs have hurt India’s shrimp export. “Indian equity markets responded almost immediately, with shrimp exporters among the clearest beneficiaries,” the Times said.
The Louisiana shrimp industry has complained that India dumps shrimp in the United States. Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., have introduced legislation to impose tariffs on Indian shrimp.