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India have reportedly stated that its import duties are not high and are within the norms of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This comment thus firmly rejects the US claims of imposing “tremendously high” tariffs. “We do not agree with that at all. Our tariffs (import duties) are very consistent with the bound rates that we are entitled to in the WTO,” Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan reportedly told media .
“Our tariffs are very comparable to more liberal developing economies and some developed economies,” he added.
He said India’s tariffs are within the bound rates under the WTO commitments, and on the average are well below those rates.
Duties which are imposed on imported goods are called applied rates and the extent to which a country can increase those duties are known as bound rates.
India’s trade weighted average tariff is 7.6 per cent, which is comparable with the most open developing economies, and some developed economies.
The commerce ministry, in a statement, said on developmental considerations, there may be a few tariff peaks, which is true for almost all economies.
US President Donald Trump had claimed that India is a “tariff king” and imposes “tremendously high” tariffs on American products like Harley Davidson motorcycles.
