Almonds from California on display in Visakhapatnam.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The United States has welcomed the recent Indian move to reduce tariffs on several American agricultural products.

Last week, India agreed to reduce tariffs on certain U.S. products, including frozen turkey, frozen duck, fresh blueberries and cranberries, frozen blueberries and cranberries, dried blueberries and cranberries, as well as processed blueberries and cranberries.

These tariff cuts will expand economic opportunities for U.S. agricultural producers in the critical market and help bring more products from the United States to customers in India, U.S. officials said.

Welcoming the announcement, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the move will create new market opportunities for U.S. producers and exporters.

“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA (US Department of Agriculture) and USTR (United States Trade Representative) have focused on rebuilding trust and strengthening relationships with our global trading partners, including India, and working through the World Trade Organization and other venues to ensure that those partners live up to their obligations so that U.S. agriculture has full and fair access to key export markets,” Mr. Vilsack said.

The recent move follows the lifting of India’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. apples, chickpeas, lentils, almonds and walnuts, a development that was announced earlier this summer and took effect this week.

“While important progress has been made, significant tariff and non-tariff barriers to American agricultural products accessing the Indian market remain,” Mr. Vilsack said.

Senator Amy Klobuchar in a statement welcomed the agreement to lower tariffs on U.S. turkey exports to India. The agreement will lower tariffs on frozen turkey products exports to India from 30% to 5%, she said.

“For too long, high tariffs have prevented American turkey farmers from exporting their products to India,” Ms. Klobuchar said.

“That’s why I pushed for a resolution to create an even playing field and reduce trade barriers for American turkey farmers and producers, and I’m glad to see this agreement has been reached,” Ms. Klobuchar said.

In a separate statement, Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine said this move will help strengthen the strong partnership between India and the U.S. while generating increased demand for Virginia poultry and supporting economic activity in the Valley.

In 2021, Virginia was the sixth largest turkey source in America after producing 14.5 million birds.

Turkey production plays a key role in Virginia’s poultry industry, which provides a direct economic impact of $5.8 billion and contributes $13.6 billion in economic activity in the State.

“The National Turkey Federation applauds the efforts by the U.S. and Indian governments to significantly reduce the tariffs. This move creates an important new market for U.S. turkey producers and will give Indians more affordable access to a nutritious, delicious protein,” said Joel Brandenberger, president and CEO of the National Turkey Federation.

“NTF congratulates the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the leadership of USDA on this accomplishment, and we thank Senators Mark R. Warner and Thom Tillis for spearheading congressional efforts to ensure U.S. turkey growers are able to effectively compete in this fast-growing marketplace,” he said.

Almonds from California on display in Visakhapatnam. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Two days before U.S. President Joe Biden arrives in New Delhi for a bilateral meeting as well as the G-20 Summit, India has dropped the retaliatory customs tariffs it had imposed on imports of some American goods like almonds and lentils, effective September 6, 2023.   

India had raised import duties on 28 American products in June 2019, after the United States had hiked its customs duties on certain steel and aluminium products. In a notification issued on September 5, the Finance Ministry dropped some of these tariff hikes “on being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do”. 

During his State visit to the U.S. in June 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Biden administration had agreed to resolve six bilateral trade disputes that were pending at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and unwind the tit-for-tat tariff hikes imposed on some U.S. products, including walnuts, almonds and apples. 

The Almond Board of California (ABC) welcomed the move in a statement, noting that the import duties on their almond shipments to India will now go back to ₹35 per kg on inshell and ₹100 per kg of kernels. India had raised the applied tariff rates on U.S. almonds to ₹41 per kg on inshell and ₹120 per kg on kernels. 

“We are very happy to see the retaliatory tariffs removed, which will both help increase demand in India and reduce the cost to consumers there,” said Julie Adams, vice-president for technical and regulatory affairs at ABC. 

“The almond industry has been working hard along with government officials to reduce the impediments for exports of California almonds to India, which is our largest export destination. We continue to discuss further opportunities to improve export conditions related to tariffs and technical barriers,” Ms. Adams noted.