NEW DELHI: US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Tuesday said tariffs imposed by India on some items are quite high. Ross asked India to reduce tariffs and remove certain trade restrictions such as data localisation, which would help cut the cost of operations for American firms. “India’s average applied tariff rate is 13.8 per cent.
That remains the highest among any major world economy. India, for example, has 60 per cent tariff on auto, while the US has 2.5 per cent. It has 50 per cent tariff on motorcycles and 150 per cent on alcoholic beverages. (These are) just a few extreme examples,” said Ross, who is on an India visit along with a delegation of over 100 American businessmen. Citing examples, Ross said that India imposes maximum import duty under the global trade rules: at the average of an “incredible” 113.5 per cent on agricultural products, and some as high as 300 per cent.
“They are way too high,” he said. Ross also complained that the US companies face not only tariff but also non-tariff barriers. “Our goal is to eliminate the barriers for US companies operating here, including data localisation restrictions that actually weaken data security and increase the cost of doing business,” he said. Both tariff and trade barriers have been recurring issues in Indo-US trade dialogue.
What lends significance to Ross’ complaints is that they come at a time when the US has threatened to import duties on Chinese exports to the US, unless China agrees to open up its market more. The US Commerce Secretary expects that the new government, which would be formed after the ongoing elections, would look at these matters. He pointed out that India is the US’ 13th largest export market due to “overly restrictive” market access barriers, while the US accounts for 20 per cent of India’s total exports.