New York: US President Donald Trump has announced a 25 percent duty on all steel and aluminium imports, a long-standing contentious category of trade between India and the US.

President Trump said on Sunday that he would announce the tariffs on Monday, covering imports from all countries.

“Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 per cent tariff, aluminium, too”, Trump said while flying to New Orleans for the Superbowl.

He said that reciprocal tariffs would also be applied to all countries.

“Very simply, if they charge us, we charge them”; he said.

He added that those tariffs will be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday and take effect immediately.

The tariff threat came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington this week.

India exported steel worth $4 billion and aluminium worth $1.1 billion in 2023.

Steel and aluminium trade has been a contentious – and complicated issue – for India and the US, with Washington accusing New Delhi of subsidising those exports.

During PM Modi’s visit to Washington in 2023, the two countries agreed to settle six disputes involving metals before the World Trade Organisation.

However, in October, the US imposed duties of as much as 39.5 percent on some categories of aluminium imports.

It was unclear how the 25 per cent tariff Trump announced would apply to these.

In the last days of former President Joe Biden’s administration in January, the US agreed to waive additional tariffs imposed by Trump’s first administration, which ranged between 10 and 25 per cent, with a joint mechanism to monitor exports.

In return, India agreed to reduce tariffs on apples, walnuts and almonds.

India’s total exports to the US were $87.4 billion, while imports from the US were $47.8 billion last year, with a large balance in India’s favour, according to the US Census Bureau.

Trump has focussed on the US trade deficits and has vowed to reverse them through tariffs.

During his first term, he used the 100 percent duty on Harley-Davidson motorcycles as an example of why he considers India a “Tariff King.”

This month, India symbolically reduced the duties already reduced on heavier Harley Davidson models from 50 per cent to 30 per cent and from 50 per cent to 40 per cent for other models.

However, it scrapped duties in more substantial categories, such as satellite ground equipment and some scrap and waste, while reducing them in other groups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

–IANS