India may abandon US trade package

India mulls retaliating with high import duty on 29 US items

New Delhi: Withdrawal of special duty benefits by the United States has got the Indian government into a high level internal consultation process on the options it has, including abandoning the proposed trade package.

“We have been working on an extensive trade package with the US and the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) is an integral part of it. Without GSP, the trade package is irrelevant,” said a senior government official.

However, with 60 days in hand before the withdrawal comes into play, the Indian government plans to study the options it has and consider the impact on its trade with the US. It is holding discussions with key stakeholders including industrialists and exporters.

India may take up the GSP issue with the US, design a trade package minus the GSP, may provide some support to the impacted industries, work out within or outside the World Trade Organization (WTO) norms or abandon the India-US trade package. “The agenda also includes deciding on whether to retaliate with high import duty on 29 items from the US from April 1. We will take a call on all these in the next 6-7 days,” said the official. (IANS)

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