President Trump says he plans to end a trade arrangement that allows India to send billions of dollars’ worth of its exports into the U.S. duty-free.
Mr. Trump, who has criticized India as a “very high-tariff nation,” announced his get-tough stance in a letter to congressional leaders late Monday.
He said that despite “intensive engagement” between the American and Indian governments, the U.S. has not been granted equitable or reasonable access to India’s markets.
Therefore, he will no longer recognize India as a beneficiary of the Generalized System of Preferences program (GSP) — a program that gives preferential, duty-free status to more than 100 countries in the developing world.
“I will continue to assess whether the government of India is providing equitable and reasonable access to its markets,” Mr. Trump said.
The decision will affect $5.6 billion worth of exports, according to Reuters news agency, which said India is the largest beneficiary of GSP program.
The president also said he is cutting Turkey out of the program, citing its economic progress of late.
“In the four and a half decades since Turkey’s designation as a GSP beneficiary developing country, Turkey’s economy has grown and diversified,” he said in a separate letter to Congress. “Increases in gross national income per capita, declining poverty rates, and export diversification by trading partner and by sector are all evidence of Turkey’s increased level of economic development.”
The moves come as White House negotiators finalize a big trade deal with China to stave off additional, tit-for-tat tariffs between the superpowers.
Mr. Trump has doubled down on his pledge to end trade deficits with other major countries, saying the U.S. has been put at a disadvantage and abided it for too long.
The president told conservatives gathered in suburban Maryland on Saturday he planned to get tough on India, in particular.
“India is a very high-tariff nation. They charge us a lot. When we send a motorcycle to India, it’s 100 percent tariff. They charge 100 percent. When India sends a motorcycle to us, we brilliantly charge them nothing,” he said at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “I want a reciprocal tax, or at least I want to charge a tax.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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