New Delhi
\nIndia\u2019s foreign minister said on Saturday that trade negotiations with Washington are continuing but there are lines that New Delhi needs to defend, just days before hefty additional US tariffs are due to hit.
\nIndian goods face additional US tariffs of up to 50%, among the highest imposed by Washington, due to its increased purchases of Russian oil. A 25% tariff has already come into effect, while the remaining 25% is set to be enforced from August 27.
\nA planned visit by US trade negotiators to New Delhi from August 25-29 has been called off, dashing hopes that the levies may be lowered or postponed.
\n\u201cWe have some redlines in the negotiations, to be maintained and defended,\u201d Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said at an Economic Times forum event in New Delhi, singling out the interests of the country\u2019s farmers and small producers.
\nIndia-US trade talks collapsed earlier this year due to India not agreeing to open its vast agricultural and dairy sectors. Bilateral trade between the world\u2019s largest and fifth largest economy is worth over $190 billion.
\n\u201cIt is our right to make decisions in our \u2018national interest\u2019,\u201d Jaishankar said.
\nAnalysts at Capital Economics said on Friday that if the full US tariffs come into force and stick, the hit to India\u2019s economic growth would be 0.8 percentage points both this year and next.
\n\u201cThe longer-term harm could be even greater as a high tariff could puncture India\u2019s appeal as a global manufacturing hub.\u201d
\nThe Indian minister described US President Donald Trump\u2019s policy announcements as \u201cunusual\u201d.
\n\u201cWe have not had a US president who conducts his foreign policy so publicly as the current one and [it] is a departure from the traditional way of conducting business with the world,\u201d Jaishankar said.
\nHe also said Washington\u2019s concern over India\u2019s Russian oil purchases was not being applied to other major buyers such as China and European Union.
\n\u201cIf the argument is oil, then there are [other] big buyers. If the argument is who is trading more [with Russia], then there are bigger traders,\u201d he said.
\nRussia-European trade is bigger than India-Russia trade, he added.
\nThe minister also said India\u2019s purchases of Russian oil had not been raised in earlier trade talks with the US before the public announcement of tariffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi India\u2019s foreign minister said on Saturday that trade negotiations with Washington are continuing but there are lines that New Delhi needs to defend, just days before hefty additional US tariffs are due to hit. Indian goods face additional US tariffs of up to 50%, among the highest imposed by Washington, due to its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-498693","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n