India and the US must utilise the upcoming visit of US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to resolve outstanding “trade frictions”, a top American business advocacy group said Sunday.
The US-India Business Council (USIBC) also said tariffs, forced localisation of data and other barriers to trade limit economic opportunities and adversely impact consumers in both the countries.
“We believe that a transparent and consultative dialogue between the governments and industry is needed to resolve outstanding commercial issues, build trust and confidence, and strengthen the broad-based and strategic partnership between our countries,” the USIBC said.
Pompeo will be visiting India from June 25-27. His visit comes shortly after India announced a hike in customs duties on as many as 28 US products, including almond, pulses and walnut, in response to higher tariffs imposed by Washington on Indian products like steel and aluminium.
The move will hurt American exporters of these 28 items as they will have to pay higher duties, making those items costlier in the Indian market.
The US had in March last year imposed 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent import duty on aluminium products. Earlier, there was no duty on these goods.
