Washington: The office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) submitted the 2025 National Trade Estimate (NTE) to President Donald Trump and the Congress on Tuesday.
The NTE is an annual report detailing foreign trade barriers faced by US exporters and the USTR’s efforts to reduce those barriers. The report lists the details of tariffs being imposed by the countries trading with the US.
“No American President in modern history has recognised the wide-ranging and harmful foreign trade barriers American exporters face more than President Trump,” said Ambassador Jamieson Greer. “Under his leadership, this administration is working diligently to address these unfair and non-reciprocal practices, helping restore fairness and put hardworking American businesses and workers first in the global market.”
The findings of the 2025 NTE underscore President Trump’s America First Trade Policy and the President’s 2025 Trade Policy Agenda, an official statement said.
The report states that “India’s average Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) applied tariff rate was 17.0 per cent in 2023 (latest data available), which was the highest of any major world economy, with an average applied tariff rate of 13.5 per cent for non-agricultural goods and 39.0 per cent for agricultural goods. India maintains high applied tariffs on a wide range of goods, including vegetable oils, apples, corn, and motorcycles (50 per cent); automobiles and flowers (60 per cent); and alcoholic beverages (150 per cent)”.
The report does not take into account the latest reductions in Indian tariffs that have been announced for US goods in the Budget 2025-26. The duty on bikes, for instance, has been reduced to 40 per cent while the duty on bourbon whiskey has been cut to 100 per cent from 150 per cent earlier.
“In addition, India maintains very high basic customs duties (in some cases exceeding 20 percent) on drug formulations, including life-saving drugs and finished medicines listed on the World Health Organisation’s list of essential medicines. High tariff rates also present a significant barrier to trade in other agricultural goods and processed foods (e.g., poultry, potatoes, citrus, almonds, pecans, apples, grapes, canned peaches, chocolate, cookies, frozen french fries, and other prepared foods used in fast-food restaurants),” the report states.
The NTE is an annual report due to the President and Congress by March 31 of each year. USTR works closely with other government agencies and US embassies and solicits comments from the public through a Federal Register Notice to prepare the NTE.
(IANS)
