INDIA US Trade War: India Is Readying For Trade War With US

India is readying itself for a retaliatory move against the US as trade war seems to be escalating.

The government has readied retaliatory tariffs on 29 items from the US.
A notification in this regard will be released soon.
The tariffs will be on items like apples, almonds, boric acid, chickpeas, etc.
The total worth of the tariffs amounts to $230 million.
The retaliatory move is against the imposition of 10% and 25% of tariffs on Indian Aluminium and Steel by the US in 2018.
The proposal to retaliate was there on the cards since 2018 but the government was postponing the matter since hoping to resolve trade issues and withdrawal of India from Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) by the US.

India was withdrawn from the GSP on 5 June 2019.
GSP is a trade promotion program of the United States for the developing nations.
Benefits of the programme include the elimination of tariffs on many of the items imported from designated countries.
The programme allows the exporting countries to diversify their trade with the US and enhance their trade.

Along with India, many developing countries like Mexico, China, Canada, and the EU have borne the brunt of the US’s tariffs.
But, they have already retaliated with counter-tariffs and the US have struck agreements with them to normalize trade.
India, having delayed has now decided to act and became the last one to take retaliatory measures.

The President of the United States Donald Trump since assuming office has been waging trade war across the globe.
Countries like China have acted severely against the US and retaliated heavily by imposing tariffs on many US imports.
India too has finally seemed to be waking from its slumber and acting against US protectionism.
But, the trade war is not doing any good to the global economy which is yet to see any progress for the past several years.
Instead, strengthening the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by providing equal powers to the developing nations, having bilateral trade negotiations and following the rules based global trade will augur well for the global economy.