Imposition of 25% US duty not to impact India much; agriculture, dairy, GM food no go area in trade pact

New Delhi: The imposition of a 25 per cent US tariff will not have much impact on India, and New Delhi will not grant any duty exemptions on agricultural, dairy, and genetically modified (GM) products in trade pacts, sources said on Friday.

Most of the Indian goods are already in the exemption category (such as pharma and electronic goods) of the US. So, they would not attract any duty, according to sources.

"More than half of India's exports to the US (are expected) to remain unimpacted. Due to the Section 232 exemption of the US, only exports worth about USD 40 billion would be impacted with these tariffs," they added.

In 2024-25, the bilateral trade between India and the US stood at USD 131.8 billion (USD 86.5 billion exports and USD 45.3 billion imports).

They also said that animal feed is used in the dairy sector in the US, and India has never given any duty concessions in any of its earlier trade pacts in this sector.

"There are religious sentiments in the dairy sector. So, it is not acceptable. There will be no compromise on these segments in any of India's trade pacts," they said.

India and the US have been negotiating a bilateral trade agreement since March. So far, five rounds of talks have been completed.

The sixth round of talks will be held from August 25.