Washington

Indiahas flagged inconsistencies in the US approach to tariffs at a public hearing on the US Trade Representative's (USTR) proposal to impose levies on goods linked to forced labour. Testifying before a USTR panel on Wednesday, Brij Mohan Mishra, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that the US exempts 1,600 items that cannot be produced or grown within the country from scrutiny of forced labour.

"What we submit is that the exemptions provided by the USTR not only undermine the policy rationale of addressing forced labour impact in the global supply chain but also of preventing such impact caused by circumvention practices," Mishra said, in response to questions from the USTR panel. He also flagged that the US levies reduced tariff rates on exports of textile products manufactured using US cotton and related items.

"By providing reduced tariff rates on the basis of imports of US-origin textile inputs, the textiles mechanism operates as an arbitrary requirement that influences and constrains the sourcing decisions of foreign manufacturers, without fully addressing the concern of forced labour," Mishra said. At the same time, he said India remained open to dialogue, and all concerns need to be dealt with in the framework of the India-US bilateral trade negotiations and not in a specific unilateral manner as is being provided in the Section 301 investigations. Representatives of industry bodies FICCI and CII also presented their views on the US proposal to impose tariffs ranging from 10 to 12.5 per cent on imports from 60 economies that Washington says have failed to prevent goods made with forced labour from entering global supply chains.

"An additional tariff will increase costs not only for Indian exporters, but also for US manufacturers, importers, retailers and ultimately American consumers," Poornima Shenoy, FICCI representative in the US, said in her testimony before the USTR panel.

She said many US industries rely on long-standing sourcing relationships with Indian suppliers because they deliver products of quality, reliability and ensure full compliance.