India imposes 'burdensome testing' across sectors, making it costly for US cos to sell their products: White House

With United States' President Donald Trump announcing a 'discounted' 25% tariff on India, the White House in a document has said that the country's testing and certification requirements for several sectors makes it a costly affair for American companies to sell products. "India imposes their own uniquely burdensome and/or duplicative testing and certification requirements in sectors such as chemicals, telecom products, and medical devices that make it difficult or costly for American companies to sell their products in India," said a White House document. The White House said that 'if these barriers were removed, it is estimated that US exports would increase by at least $5.3 billion annually.'What did the executive order say about India? The executive order on reciprocal tariffs signed by US President Donald Trump highlights the duties charged by India on American products.Trump signed the executive order titled 'Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices that Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits' in the White House's Rose Garden on Wednesday, describing it as "Liberation Day" and 2 April 2025 as the day "American industry was reborn."The executive order mentions the tariffs charged by India on US products. A fact sheet issued by the White House on reciprocal tariffs also includes similar tariffs that India imposes on US goods."…while World Trade Organisation (WTO) members agreed to bind their tariff rates on a most-favoured-nation (MFN) basis, and thereby provide their best tariff rates to all WTO members, they did not agree to bind their tariff rates at similarly low levels or to apply tariff rates on a reciprocal basis."Consequently, according to the WTO, the United States has among the lowest simple average MFN tariff rates in the world at 3.3 per cent, while many of our key trading partners like Brazil (11.2 per cent), China (7.5 per cent), the European Union (EU) (5 per cent), India (17 per cent), and Vietnam (9.4 per cent) have simple average MFN tariff rates that are significantly higher," the executive order stated.It added that these average MFN tariff rates conceal much larger discrepancies across economies in tariff rates applied to particular products."For example, the United States imposes a 2.5 per cent tariff on passenger vehicle imports (with internal combustion engines), while the European Union (10 per cent), India (70 per cent), and China (15 per cent) impose much higher duties on the same product. For network switches and routers, the United States imposes a 0 per cent tariff, but for similar products, India (10 per cent) levies a higher rate."Brazil (18 per cent) and Indonesia (30 per cent) impose a higher tariff on ethanol than does the United States (2.5 per cent). For rice in the husk, the US MFN tariff is 2.7 per cent (ad valorem equivalent), while India (80 per cent), Malaysia (40 per cent), and Turkey (an average of 31 per cent) impose higher rates. Apples enter the United States duty-free, but not so in Turkey (60.3 per cent) and India (50 per cent)," the executive order stated.'Discounted tariff for India'Trump announced a 26 per cent "discounted reciprocal tariff" on India, half of the 52 per cent levies imposed by India on American goods, as he described India as "very, very tough."As he announced the tariffs, Trump held up a chart showing the tariffs that countries such as India, China, the European Union, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan levy on US products and the reciprocal levies that these countries will now have to pay.On India, the chart showed that the country charged 52 per cent tariffs to the US "including currency manipulation and trade barriers," and America will now charge India "discounted reciprocal tariffs" of 26 per cent."India, very, very tough. Very, very tough. The Prime Minister just left. He's a great friend of mine, but I said, 'You're a friend of mine, but you're not treating us right.' They charge us 52%. You have to understand, we charge them almost nothing, for years and years and decades, and it was only seven years ago, when I came in, that we started with China and we took in hundreds of billions of dollars from China in tariffs," Trump said.