ZCZC
BCN-05
US-INDIA-TURKEY-TRADE-WADHAWAN
India plays down end to US trade preferences
NEW DELHI, March 5, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – India played down on Tuesday President
Donald Trump’s intention to end certain trade preferences, saying the impact
on New Delhi’s exports to the US would be minor.
Annual Indian exports to the United States are close to $80 billion, but
those covered by the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) are worth just
$5.6 billion, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said.
“GSP withdrawal will not have a significant impact on India’s exports to
the US,” the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency quoted Wadhawan as
saying.
Although India is the biggest beneficiary of the GSP, Wadhawan added that
the duty benefit from the GSP was just $190 million per year.
The US trade chief’s office said Monday that Washington intended to
terminate both India and Turkey’s GSP designations “because they no longer
comply with the statutory eligibility criteria”.
India “has implemented a wide array of trade barriers that create serious
negative effects on United States commerce,” the Office of the US Trade
Representative said in a statement.
The changes cannot take effect for at least 60 days, a process Trump began
Monday with letters to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the
president of the Senate.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1251 hrs