Overview
- A joint framework published this week lowers U.S. duties on many Indian exports to 18% from roughly 50% and restores access for about $44 billion of Indian goods at zero tariff, effective from February 7 after a White House executive order rolled back the extra 25% levy.
- India will reduce or eliminate duties on U.S. industrial goods and select agricultural products such as dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum, tree nuts, fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, while keeping staples and sensitive farm items like grains, dairy, poultry and meat outside the concessions.
- New Delhi signalled intent to purchase about $500 billion of U.S. goods over five years, including energy, aircraft and parts, precious metals, technology hardware such as GPUs, and coking coal.
- The U.S. order establishes monitoring of direct or indirect Russian‑oil purchases and allows a tariff snapback, creating operational risk for Indian refiners and exporters and raising compliance concerns for supply chains.
- Formal signing of the first phase is expected around mid‑March, opposition parties and farmer unions have announced protests including a February 12 action, and markets and labor‑intensive exporters such as apparel, footwear and gems have welcomed the tariff reset.