India Textiles to Get US Benefits Like Bangladesh, Official Says

India’s textile exports to the US will receive the same benefits Washington has extended to Bangladesh, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.

The trade deal between New Delhi and the White House will include a clause on duty benefits if cotton yarn is imported from the US, Goyal told reporters in New Delhi. Neither the joint statement nor the White House factsheet on the India-US deal explicitly mentioned the clause.

The remarks follow a US decision to reduce reciprocal tariffs on Bangladeshi goods to 19 percent and to introduce a provision granting full exemptions for certain textile products that use US-produced cotton or man-made fibre.

Bangladesh has a much larger garment export industry than India, and the move had sparked anxiety among Indian textile exporters.

The minister’s comments offer more insight into the recently announced India-US interim trade deal, key details of which have so far remained sparse. President Donald Trump announced the trade deal last week, agreeing to cut reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent from 25 percent. He also scrapped a 25 percent punitive duty imposed on India for buying Russian oil.

Indian farmers, however, are concerned that New Delhi may have made too many concessions in the agricultural sector to secure lower tariffs. Thousands of farmers across the country gathered on Thursday for large-scale protests against the long-awaited trade deal.

The government has sought to dampen concerns. Goyal has repeatedly said that sensitive agricultural products, including dairy and poultry, were excluded from negotiations, and added India had made no concessions on imports of key genetically modified crops, which remain politically sensitive for New Delhi.

About 90 percent-95 percent of India’s farm produce is out of the deal with US, Goyal said on Thursday, adding that the government has safeguarded fruits, vegetables, ethanol, tobacco, several pulses and millets.

By Shruti Srivastava

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