Exporters flag concerns over Trump's tariff threat in meeting with Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: Certain exporters raised concerns over US President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs, during a meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal here on Thursday, industry sources said.

Goyal convened the meeting with export promotion councils of different sectors, including textiles, engineering, electronics, leather and services, to discuss ways to boost the country's exports.

The other issues flagged by exporters include quality control orders, shortage of skilled labour for labour-intensive export sectors and extension of interest equalisation scheme, they said.

Trump has warned that he will impose 100 per cent tariffs against countries of the BRICS bloc, of which India is a part, if they take any steps to replace the US dollar. He had termed India as "Tariff King" and an "abuser" of import tariffs.

India is examining Trump's memorandum 'America First Trade Policy' to assess its impact on the bilateral trade with the US, which is its largest trading partner.

Exports contracted for the second month in a row by about 1 per cent year-on-year to $ 38.01 billion due to global uncertainties, while imports rose about 5 per cent to $ 59.95 billion. Key export sectors, including petroleum, gems and jewellery, and chemicals, have registered negative growth during the month under review.

Cumulatively, during the April-December period of this fiscal year, exports recorded a growth of 1.6 per cent to $ 321.71 billion and imports by 5.15 per cent to $ 532.48 billion.

Trade deficit -- the difference between imports and exports -- during April-December widened to $210.77 billion from $189.74 billion during the same period of the previous fiscal year.