India and US trade deal is in favor of farmers: Goyal

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Friday (6 February) lashed out at critics of the trade deal between India and the US during a press conference, saying, "I can say with a hammer that the agreement between the US and India will not harm the interests of farmers and several industries in any way. Rather, people associated with key sectors will benefit from the American market and at the same time, their access to the American market will improve."

Addressing the press conference, Piyush Goyal further said, "The government keeps the interests of the country's farmers at the top while negotiating trade agreements with any country, and no such concession has been given in the agreement with the US that would affect the interests of Indian farmers."

Under the agreement, the 50 percent tariff imposed on Indian exports to the US will be reduced to just 18 percent. The 18 percent is less than the tariffs imposed by all our neighboring countries and other countries, and in the coming days, it will benefit us and our exporters greatly.

Mr. Goyal further said, "There are several items on which zero duty will be imposed when our exporters send their goods to the US. After that, the $30 billion US market will open up for Indian exporters. The important thing is that no compromise has been made with the interests of farmers in this."

He said, for example, precious jewels and diamonds will have zero duty. Pharmaceutical products, which India exports on a large scale, worth around $13 billion, will also have zero duty. Smartphones, which are exported to the US from India on a large scale, will also have zero duty. Apart from this, there are many items on which zero duty will be imposed in the future.

"In this way, in the future, there will be several items on which duty will be zero. In the agricultural sector, there are also several items that will be exported from India to the US, on which zero tariff will be imposed, i.e., additional duty will be zero. For example, spices, tea, coffee, and products made from them, coconut and coconut oil, vegetable waxes, betel nuts, Brazil nuts, cashews, and chestnuts, and several fruits and vegetables, etc. are also included," Mr. Goyal said.

He said that on the other hand, the reduction of retaliatory import duties in the US to 18 percent will provide better opportunities for Indian importers in the US market for toy, sports, and textile exporters. The 18 percent import duty in the US is lower than that of all neighboring and rival countries of India.

He indirectly criticized the opposition, saying, "Some people are against the farmers of India and are trying to mislead them. Such people are wondering how this agreement has been made between India and the US, in which Indian importers will have easy and wider access to the US market for their products."