The pulses pressure

Republican senators from two key US farm states push for tariff relief from New Delhi as American pulses growers struggle to regain India market share lost to Canada and others. Sanjeeb Mukherjee writes

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Earlier this month, two Republican Senators, Steve Daines of Montana and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, wrote to American President Donald Trump demanding favourable provisions for pulses crops in any future trade agreements between the United States (US) and India.

“In your first term, we wrote to you on this issue, and you hand-delivered our letter to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi during the 2020 trade negotiations with India, which helped bring our producers to the table... engaging Prime Minister Modi on pulses crop tariffs to enhance the economic cooperation between our countries would be mutually beneficial to both American producers and Indian customers,” the senators said in the letter.

Their principal concern was India’s decision to impose a 30 per cent import tariff on yellow peas, announced on October 30, 2025, and effective from November 1. According to the senators, the duty places US pulses producers at a significant competitive disadvantage when exporting to India.

Furthermore, Daines visited India from January 17 to 19, and met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, members of Parliament, and US and Indian business leaders. US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor also attended the meetings. “I came to India to reaffirm our two countries’ shared values and strategic partnership and to advocate on behalf of Montana’s pulses crop farmers. I appreciated Minister Goyal for listening to our farmers’ concerns and will continue to work with President Trump to press this important priority,” a statement from the US embassy quoted Daines as saying.