US tariffs: A wakeup call to improve our competitiveness

Last week, any forlorn hopes that the punitive 25 per cent tariffs on Indian goods entering the United States (US) would be rolled back by the President Donald Trump administration evaporated.

- TN C RAJAGOPALAN

No one knows how long these tariffs will last, whether services from India to the US, intellectual property, investments and remittances from the US to India and visas for students, and educated professionals from India, etc., will also be targeted.

It is unbelievable that India's refusal to acknowledge the role of the US in ending 'Operation Sindoor' should lead to such harsh measures.

Given that not much can be done about what the US does or can do at this stage, the government has now shifted its focus to immediate relief for exporters and workers affected by the loss of export orders from the US and a package of fiscal incentives to help exporters tide over the immediate crisis.