Countdown to the United States: What to expect

President Donald Trump. document. |Picture source: AP

Since President Donald Trump took office, the president touted the “reciprocal tariffs” that the president has announced, which is a way for him to “tax us on us” – referring to the country that tariffs on imports of U.S. goods – the White House will impose tariffs in a plan – which aims to launch the plan in the plan. Make America rich again event. According to the White House, the announcement will be held at Rose Garden at 4 p.m. ET (1:30 a.m. on Thursday) and will take effect immediately.

What does the United States expect to do?

Although officials have been detained over the past few weeks on the final announcement to be made, it is expected, according to various comments from senior trade and finance officials:

1. Identify the countries to target tariffs. Although Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned the “Dirty 15” with the highest trade deficit with the U.S., others suggested that the list would be based on the average tariffs they charge.

2. According to some news agencies, this could be a 20% blanket number, or an average tariff based on the average U.S. average, which could be a structural figure for each country, which could be a 20% blanket number. According to US data, the current “average import tariff rate for industrial supplies is 20%” and half of them have no duty tax.

3. There could be a possibility of non-tariff barriers, market access issues and those tariffs Mr. Trump has threatened in the past few weeks, i.e., energy imports from Venezuela and Russia.

4. The extension of mutual tariffs that are exempted to certain countries is based on actions they have taken so far or ongoing trade negotiations. It’s still a game of speculation given that Mr. Trump imposed tariffs to address “decades of unfair trade practices that have been torn apart by these measures,” said Karoline Leavitt, a White House press secretary. [the U.S.] Leave and American workers”, so it is unlikely that they will be changed due to recent remedies.

What should India prepare?

India hopes for some special treatment, given Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington and holds talks with Mr Trump in February Since then, the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). In a statement issued at the end of the final round of talks held in Delhi between US Trade Representative (USTR) officials and Commerce Department officials from March 25 to 29, the government said they had “a wide understanding” of the next steps of BTA and hoped to finalize the first paragraph or part of the section in the fall of 20205 (September to September to September to September to September to September to September to September to September to September to September to September to finalize.

The statement said they will now actually start negotiations one by one and negotiate “increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers and deepening supply chain integration.”

Even so, the White House (including Trump himself) statement shows that India is seen among the “worst criminals” of trade and is being picked out with high tariffs (in 2023, the applied tariff rate for WTO figures was 17.0%) and the bilateral trade deficit ($4.57 billion).

On March 31, Ms. Levitt spoke to the White House Press Corps, saying she was talking about the worst “tariff criminals”, including “50% of the European Dairy Alliance in Europe, 700% tariffs on American rice in Japan, 100% tariffs on American agricultural products from India, and nearly 300% U.S. butter and U.S. cheese, nearly 300%.

These numbers are 2025 National Trade Estimate Report Release by USTR on March 31.

Excerpts about India’s chapter:

• India’s most popular country (MFN) applied tariff rate was 17% in 2023 (the latest data available), the highest in any major world economy, with an average applied tariff rate of 13.5% for non-agricultural goods and an average applied tariff rate of 39% for agricultural goods.

• The World Trade Organization of India (WTO) tariff rates on agricultural products are the highest in the world, with an average of 113.1%, up to 300%.

• India has repeatedly raised import restrictions, tariffs, surcharges and taxes for products ranging from electronics to agricultural products.

• India maintains various forms of non-propaganda barriers: items that are prohibited or prohibited from entering India (e.g., tallow, fat and oil of animal origin); projects that require non-automatic import licensing (e.g., certain livestock products, medicines, certain chemicals, certain information technology products); and projects that are imported only through government trade monopoly and require cabinet approval for import time and quantity (e.g., tariff rate quotas).

• The scientific and risk basis of the U.S. trade barriers related to sanitation and phytosanitation of India’s imports of food and agriculture has attracted attention and has prevented the entry of agricultural products, including dairy, alfalfa hay and other feed cereals, from entering the Indian market. In addition, the United States has raised similar concerns about India’s policy on genetically modified foods.

• The U.S. has raised concerns about the lack of intellectual property concerns and taxes on digital services, including a 6% digital equilibrium taxation and data localization requirements, and has placed India on its “priority watch list.”

If you want to avoid punishment from the Trump administration, you should expect New Delhi to be asked to resolve these issues.

What India has done so far:

1. Begin negotiations to reach a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) to resolve most of the issues.

2. Reduced tariffs on many items, including American alcohol, motorcycles and other goods.

3. According to negotiation officials, India expressed willingness to reduce tariffs on half of the current imports.

4. India can also discuss whether some additional surcharges, digital taxes, incentives linked to production, etc. can be abandoned.

5. India is also willing to discuss market access for agricultural supplies and dairy products, which so far has been considered a bad region.

6. India is negotiating deals with the early FTA with the EU, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and others, as well as the US, and is expected to offer similar concessions to everyone.

Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar faces pressure from farmers’ groups on the plan, acknowledging their concerns, but stressing that negotiators should “trust” to negotiate the “best deal” in India.

India’s response to any tariffs imposed will also be closely watched. China has retaliated against Canada and Mexico’s major anti-election tariffs. EU leaders said the EU’s response to U.S. tariffs will be “uniform, proportionate and robust.”

India slapped the United States with multiple retaliatory tariffs when the previous Trump administration revoked India’s “GSP” identity overnight. However, this time, the response to the US expropriation of steel and aluminum, the restrictions on energy conservation, etc. have been silently recognized in New Delhi, and what was the response to the announcement overnight.