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Trump tariffs a call for nations to consider trade governance reforms
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Amita Batra
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It is now close to 60 days since 'liberation day' and the subsequent announcement by United States President Donald Trump of a 90-day stay on the implementation of reciprocal tariffs. Notwithstanding this, tariff threats by the US President against not just 'countries of concern' but also allies and domestic firms continue almost on a daily basis. While this uncertain trade policy context makes it difficult to discern trends, some early signs of how global trade is evolving may be worth outlining.
First, while the exemption from reciprocal tariffs for United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement-compliant products and value added in case of auto/
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NDTV
22 minutes ago
- NDTV
As Trade Tensions Rise, A Look At How Trump Has Roiled Financial Markets
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Indian Express
7 hours ago
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Also, while the redlines for India would include sensitive sectors such as dairy products and cereals, where agri livelihoods are at stake, there is now greater receptiveness within India's policy circles to cut tariffs on some industrial goods, including automobiles, and some agri products of interest to the Amercians. Also, India has headroom to import more from the US, especially in three sectors — crude, defence equipment and nuclear, to manage Trump's constant references to the trade gap. Third, there is a growing view that the baseline tariffs are here to stay. So, effectively, what India would be negotiating for is a rate between 10% and 26 %. Prior to Trump's taking over in January, the effective duty on India was just 4%, and there were virtually no non-tariff barriers. That number is now a thing of the past. What is more consequential is the effective duty on Chinese products on a landed basis across US ports in commodity categories where Indian producers are reasonably competitive. The net tariff differential with India, and how that curve continues to move, is of particular interest here, given the firm belief in policy circles here that Washington DC would ensure a reasonable tariff differential between China and India. This is, in turn, expected to tide over some of India's structural downsides — infrastructural bottlenecks, logistics woes, high interest cost, the cost of doing business, corruption, etc. Anil Sasi is National Business Editor with the Indian Express and writes on business and finance issues. He has worked with The Hindu Business Line and Business Standard and is an alumnus of Delhi University. ... Read More


Indian Express
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