No Commitment to US on Tariff Cuts; Deal Talks On: Govt

Commerce, foreign secys brief House panel on current scenario

- ARCHIS MOHAN

In its first official response to US President Donald Trump's recent claim that India had agreed to cut its tariffs way down, the Union government on Monday told a parliamentary panel that New Delhi had not made any commitment to the US on reducing tariffs.

The government conveyed to the panel that negotiations were still on and that India had sought time until September, while clarifying that the Trump administration had not set a deadline of April 2 for New Delhi.

At the meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs held on Monday evening, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal told the panel members that India could reduce tariffs on some of the items, such as nuts, but would protect its dairy industry.

However, any reduction in tariffs will be done bilaterally and not replicated for multilateral agreements.