India has indicated its willingness to sort out tariff woes of the Donald Trump-led regime in the US through “constructive dialogue”.
“The new US government has come in recently. Whatever trade issues are there we will talk it out, we will discuss…And we want to further enhance and expand our bilateral trade,” MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing on Friday.
Jaiswal was answering questions on India’s response to Trump’s tariff threats towards countries with which the US has persistent trade deficits.
Trump had labelled India as ‘tariff king’ during his election campaign and had warned of reciprocal tariffs on products exported by the country.
In his America First Trade Policy brought out shortly after his swearing in earlier this week, Trump said that the US Department of Commerce should recommend appropriate measures, such as a global supplemental tariff or other policies, to remedy the US’ trade deficits.
The US is India’s top trading partner, with exports to the US valued at $77.5 billion in FY24. Top exports to the US include engineering goods, electronic goods, gems and jewellery, pharmaceutical products, light crude oil and petroleum, electrical, and others. India’s trade surplus with the US in FY24 was over $35 billion.
“Our approach has always been to address issues in a constructive manner which is in keeping with the interests of both countries...We remain in close communication with the US administration,” Jaiswal said.
On the issue of delay in issuance of US visas, Jaiswal said that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had taken up the matter yet again with the US during during his recent visit to the country for Trump’s inauguration.
“We have been continuously raising the issue of the delay in issuing visas. If visas are conveniently issued, the people-to-people and economic ties between the two countries will improve. EAM S Jaishankar raised this matter with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio,” Jaiswal said.
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