India Hasn't Offered Any Tariff Cuts to US Yet

Sarangi denied media reports that India has already offered duty cuts to the US ahead of April 2, the date when US President Donald Trump announced he would start imposing "reciprocal tariffs" on countries charging duties on US imports.

"These are still early days. The circulation in the press that India has already offered massive reduction in duties is all guesswork by the media. Don't go by these reports. As we are speaking, there are already teams from both sides sitting and discussing what should be the contours of the bilateral trade agreement. Both leaders have agreed to conclude it by fall, which is around September-October," Sarangi said in response to a question at the launch of a survey on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by New Delhi-based think tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

To that extent, since we have already initiated a dialogue, the Government of India has been working to ensure that the tariff is not imposed and is deferred, as discussions with US authorities continue, the official said.

"But, as far as the US is concerned, most of you would know that we have huge complementarities. There are areas in which we can provide them market access and provide them with tariff reductions without compromising our industry and farm sectors," Sarangi said.

"There are a few areas where our farm sector is quite apprehensive. They are huge producers of soya bean, corn (maize) and a few other agricultural products in which India also has a substantial production. Those possibly could be some areas, but barring that, there are many other areas in which we are complementary economies," he stated.