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Exporters seek import duty cuts to counter US steel, aluminium tariffs

2025-03-06 00:00:00.0 商业标准报-经济和政策原网页

India's small engineering goods exporters have urged the government to cut import tariffs on some US goods to try and achieve more favourable trade terms as President Donald Trump prepares to implement new steel and aluminium duties, the head of an industry body said.

The 25 per cent US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, effective March 12, have raised Indian exporters' concerns about declining orders and rising costs.

"Of India's $20 billion annual engineering goods exports, nearly $7.5 billion worth of shipments could be affected," said Pankaj Chadha, chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council, which represents more than 10,000 small exporters.

The EEPC and other industry chambers have urged the government to cut tariffs on select US goods with low inbound shipments, Chadha told Reuters on Wednesday.

They expect that lowering such tariffs could prompt the Trump administration to offer favourable terms and move forward with a proposed bilateral trade deal. Trump has labelled India a high-tariff country and warned of "reciprocal tariffs" from early April.

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India's trade minister Piyush Goyal is in the US for trade talks, aiming to negotiate potential tariff cuts as part of the proposed trade deal and to assess the impact of Trump's planned reciprocal tariffs.

India could, for instance, cut import duty on US steel scrap from 7.5 per cent to nearly zero, and reduce tariffs on nuts, castings and forgings while offering concessions on selected agricultural and manufacturing items, Chadha said.

Exporters also fear that India's planned safeguard duty of up to 14 per cent on steel imports, aimed at protecting local steel manufacturers from cheaper Chinese imports, will drive up domestic prices and squeeze their margins.

India's exports of engineering goods to the US jumped 18 per cent year-on-year in January to $1.62 billion, outpacing the sector's overall growth of 7.44 per cent ahead of the tariffs, EEPC data showed.

From April 2024 to January 2025, the first 10 months of the fiscal year, engineering exports to the US rose by an annual 9 per cent to $15.6 billion, driven by an increase in shipments of aircraft parts, electrical machinery, automobiles, industrial machinery and medical instruments.

"The engineering industry faces major challenges, and the latest US tariffs add pressure. Continued government support in export credit and technology is crucial for competitiveness," Chadha said.

India's global engineering exports, which account for a quarter of total merchandise exports, rose to $9.42 billion in January from $8.77 billion a year earlier, though were lower than December's $10.84 billion. Cumulative exports for April-January rose 9.82 per cent year-on-year to $96.75 billion, EEPC data showed.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)