India extends deadline to impose higher duties on 29 U.S. products

The government of India has once again extended the deadline to impose retaliatory tariffs on as many as 29 U.S. products, including almond, walnut and pulses, from April 1 till May 2.

A notification to this effect has been issued by the government in this regard, confirmed a senior official in the country's Ministry of Finance while speaking to Xinhua on Saturday.

Meanwhile, local media reports stated that the government of India has extended this deadline over half a dozen times since June 2018, when it first decided to impose these duties in retaliation to a move by the United States to impose high customs duties on certain steel and aluminum products.

India is pushing the dates as both sides are negotiating a trade package to boost bilateral commerce.

But earlier this month, the United States decided to withdraw export incentives being provided by them to Indian exporters for certain goods under Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) program, said the media reports.

Extension of these benefits were part of the negotiations between the two countries. Now, these incentives are expected to be withdrawn from May 2.

Indian exporters are jittery over the United State's decision to withdraw these incentives as they export goods worth 5.6 billion U.S. dollars under the GSP program. About 1,900 items including from chemicals and engineering sectors avail these sops.

(CGTN)