India has disputed the US claim that it imposes tremendously high tariffs on American products.

The country says its import duties are consistent with the bound rates that it is entitled to in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and that these tariffs are very comparable to more liberal developing economies and some developed economies.

Duties which are imposed on imported goods are called applied rates and the extent to which a country can increase those duties are known as bound rates. India’s trade weighted average tariffs are 7.6 per cent, which is comparable with most open developing economies and some developed economies. There may be a few tariff peaks, but this is true for almost all economies.

The US says India imposes tremendously high tariffs on American products like Harley Davidson motorcycles. India has a trade surplus with the US, and the US has also raised this issue. Due to various initiatives resulting in enhanced purchase of US goods like oil and natural gas and coal, the US trade deficit with India has substantially reduced in 2017 and 2018. The reduction is estimated to be over four billion dollars in 2018, with further reduction expected in future years on account of factors like the growing demand for energy and civilian aircraft in India.