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India Keeps Door Open for Trade-War Truce With the U.S.

Counter-tariffs on some U.S. products deferred to Sept. 18.

India Keeps Door Open for Trade-War Truce With the U.S.
Shipping containers sit at Kwai Tsing Container Port Terminals in Hong Kong, China. (Photographer: Lam Yik Fei/ Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- India deferred the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. imports to next month, opening the door to an agreement that would avert a trade war between the two nations.

The higher import duty on goods like chickpeas and Bengal gram, or chana, has been delayed to Sept. 18 from Aug. 4, the finance ministry said in a notification. The two sides have held meetings to relieve the tension in trade relations after Washington slapped higher levies on products shipped from the South Asian nation.

The move comes as trade tensions between the U.S. and China intensifies. The Trump administration is considering increasing its proposed tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, while Beijing has threatened to retaliate.

India’s list also included tariffs on walnuts, almonds, boric acid, apples, diagnostic reagents and some hot-rolled coil products. The nation’s position is that Trump’s 25 percent and 10 percent duties on steel and aluminum, respectively, violate the global trading rules and have hurt its exports.

India had a trade surplus of $25 billion with the U.S. in 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The U.S. cited this as one of the reasons for naming India a potential currency manipulator.

To contact the reporter on this story: Karthikeyan Sundaram in New Delhi at kmeenakshisu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Karthikeyan Sundaram, Karl Lester M. Yap

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