Govt to avoid any knee-jerk reaction on US import duty announcements

India will not rush to slash import duties on American imports despite the likely announcement of retaliatory tariffs from Washington expected in the early hours of Thursday, two officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday, stating that any response to the announcements expected overnight will likely be part of the bilateral trade deal the two countries are working on for later this year.

- Rajeev Jayaswal

NEW DELHI:

US President Donald Trump was expected to make the announcement at 4 pm on Wednesday (1:30 am, IST) in the White House, with no official confirmation of the new American trade policy available till the time of going to print.

"India will avoid any knee-jerk reaction, especially at a time when the two countries are negotiating a mutually beneficial BTA," said one official, who requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

Reports in the American media in the run-up to Wednesday's announcement stated that the Trump administration was considering an across-the-board 20% import duty on all items.

Earlier in the week, Trump claimed India would be "dropping its tariffs very substantially" ahead of his April 2 announcement. "I think I heard that India, just a little while ago, is going to be dropping its tariffs very substantially. I said, why didn't somebody do this a long time ago," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.