United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the country is "going to have access" into India, and is working on a trade pact with the South Asian economy on the similar lines as done with Indonesia.
The comments came while he briefed reporters outside the White House, after announcing a "great" trade deal with Indonesia. Under the pact, Indonesian imports will be subjected to a 19% levy, whereas no tariff will be imposed on US exports to the country, Trump claimed.
An Indonesia-like trade pact can subject Indian imports to tariffs below 20%.
“We will have full access into Indonesia,” the US president said. “India basically is working along that same line. We're going to have access into India,” Trump said.
The 19% tariff on Indonesia is significantly lower as against the 32% tariff he announced against the country last week, after the July 9 deadline to ink the trade agreement was missed.
India, which is currently in its fifth round of trade negotiations with the US, was not included among the countries which were issued tariff letters last week by the Trump administration.
On April 2, Trump had announced 26% tariff on India under the so-called reciprocal levies. A week later, however, the tariffs were paused as the US entered into trade talks with several trading partners, including New Delhi.
Indian officials, based on the condition of anonymity, told NDTV Profit on Tuesday that they are closely monitoring potential tariff differentials that could emerge vis-à-vis other countries.
"We're in wait-and-watch mode," an official said, noting that the full extent of the impact will only be clear after the Aug. 1 deadline, when the US is expected to firm up its tariff plans.
Officials say the possibility of differential tariffs may eventually have differential impact, but insist contingency planning will begin only once the exact measures are known. "Backups will be prepared once we understand the full effect," a source added.
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