India is to slash tariffs on high-end US vehicles to 30 percent from as high as 110 percent and eliminate duties on Harley-Davidson Inc bikes under an interim trade pact, an official said, but New Delhi would not make concessions for electric vehicles, a move that pointedly leaves Tesla Inc out.
The US and India moved closer to a trade pact after releasing an interim framework on Friday, days after US President Donald Trump said that duties on Indian exports would be cut to 18 percent from 50 percent in exchange for New Delhi halting purchases of Russian oil.
Under the deal, tariffs on traditional internal-combustion cars with engine capacity of more than 3,000cc would fall gradually to 30 percent over 10 years, an Indian government official said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Electric vehicles have been excluded from the deal, the official added, shutting the door on a possible lower-tariff entry route for Tesla — ignoring a key demand from Elon Musk, who has frequently criticized India’s high duties.
The stance contrasts with the broader auto access India has offered to the EU, where New Delhi agreed to steeper tariff cuts to as low as 10 percent, across a wider range of vehicles, including eventual concessions on some electric vehicles.
India, the world’s third-largest car market after the US and China, has long protected its domestic auto industry with steep import tariffs of 70 to 110 percent.
It currently imports few vehicles from the US, although it does bring in high-end motorcycles such as Harley-Davidsons, and other premium motorbikes would also receive reduced duties, the official said.
The tariff cuts are likely to be implemented after the two sides sign an agreement next month.
Meanwhile, India has proposed opening up parts of its agriculture industry to cheaper imports from the US, a move that might lower food and feed costs, but intensify pressure on some domestic farmers.
The world’s most populous nation agreed to cut or eliminate import duties on US food and agricultural products, including distillers dried grains, red sorghum for animal feed, soybean oil, tree nuts, and fresh and processed fruit, according to a joint statement on the framework for an interim trade deal.
India also agreed to address long-standing nontariff barriers to the trade in US food and agricultural products.
That marks the broadest lowering of trade barriers in the politically sensitive agriculture sector — accounting for about one-fifth of India’s GDP — for US producers under a push to deepen trade ties.
“Agricultural output from India will now be able to go to the US on zero duties,” Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal told a news conference on Saturday.
“We have not given any concessions or done anything that will hurt the farmers,” he said, referring to the joint statement.
Goyal, who clarified that India has not provided any concessions on import of genetically modified crops from the US, said that agriculture products such as dairy, poultry and soybean among others have been kept out of the negotiations for the interim deal.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
RSS