Goyal said the trade deal between New Delhi and the White House will include a clause on duty benefits if cotton yarn is imported from the US.
India is likely to receive textile-related trade benefits, similar to those extended to Bangladesh under its trade arrangement with the United States, said Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. This means, like Bangladesh, Indian garment traders could also get zero-tariff access to the US market for clothes made using American cotton after the deal is signed.
Goyal said the trade deal between New Delhi and the White House will include a clause on duty benefits if cotton yarn is imported from the US. Neither the joint statement nor the White House factsheet on the India-US deal explicitly mentioned the clause.
The Commerce Minister rejected the allegations that Bangladesh secured a better deal than India, saying Washington will extend the same benefits to New Delhi. “He (Rahul Gandhi) spread another lie in the Parliament that Bangladesh has got more benefits from the trade than India,” he said, referring to the Congress leader’s claims.
“Just as Bangladesh has a facility that if raw material is purchased from America, then if you process it and make cloth and export it, then it will be available at zero reciprocal tariff. India also has the same facility, and India will also get it. Right now, our framework agreement is being made,” the minister added.
Goyal assured that the “fine print” under the deal will be clearer after the interim agreement is finalised.
The minister’s comments offer more insight into the recently announced India-US interim trade deal, whose key details have so far remained sparse. President Donald Trump announced the trade deal last week, agreeing to cut reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 25 per cent. He also scrapped a 25 per cent punitive duty imposed on India for buying Russian oil.
Indian farmers, however, are concerned that New Delhi may have made too many concessions in the agricultural sector to secure lower tariffs.
