Mainstream WeeklyOn second of February US President Donald Trump announced that US and India have reached a trade deal under which India will stop buying oil from Russia and tariffs on Indian exports will be slashed from 50 to 18 percentage points, while Indian tariffs (customs duty) will come down to zero percent on all American goods. Our Commerce minister Piyush Goyal waited till evening on that day to applaud the announcement though the its terms were not disclosed fully and kept in secrecy. Our media and ruling BJP is celebrating the reduction of tariffs, claiming a victory for PM Modi, instead it appears it could politically and economically damaging for both agriculture and industry. Especially worrying is import of agriculture and diary products at 0 % tariff will push already crisis ridden farming sector to distress with devasting consequences.
United States imports a variety of agricultural products from India worth of USD 3.4 billions, with