India, Top Buyer of U.S. Almonds, Hits Back With Higher Duties
By Reuters
June 21, 2018
NEW DELHI — India, the world’s biggest buyer of U.S. almonds, raised import duties on the commodity by 20 percent, a government order said, joining the European Union and China in retaliating against President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes on steel and aluminium.
New Delhi, incensed by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from the new tariffs, also imposed a 120 percent duty on the import of walnuts in the strongest action yet against the United States.
The move to increase tariffs from Aug. 4 will also cover a slew of other farm, steel and iron products.
It came a day after the European Union said it would begin charging 25 percent import duties on a range of U.S. products from Friday, in response to the new U.S. tariffs.
“We know that discussions are still under way and we would hope that will result in a mutually beneficial decision not to move forward with some of these increases,” Julie Adams, vice president, global technical and regulatory affairs at the Almond Board of California, told Reuters.
“India is an important market for almond exports… so anything that disrupts that market is obviously a concern.”
