India's eye on US tariff

23-Aug-2025 11:28 AM

The Trump administration in the US has imposed an import duty of 25 percent on Indian products from August 7 and has also announced to double it to 50 percent from August 27.

This has increased the dilemma of Indian importers because they fear that in response to the US tariff, the Indian government may also announce an increase in import duty on US products as a retaliatory action.

Due to which the import of US agricultural products in India will become expensive and the possibility of loss to importers will increase.

Indian importers are being very cautious in importing lentils and other pulses from the US. Although they have not stopped making new contracts for the import of US products, but have postponed all loading of goods till the end of August.

It is expected that if the Indian government takes any decision to increase the duty in relation to the US tariff, then it can be announced before 31 August 2025.

It is worth noting that the harvesting of lentils, peas, chickpeas and beans has begun in the US and its price is also relatively low.

Due to this, Indian importers are interested in its purchase. A good amount of green lentils is exported from the US, which is considered a better alternative to pigeon pea. Apart from this, it also exports yellow peas and chickpeas to India.

In India, importers from Tamil Nadu import green lentils in large quantities from the US because the state government there distributes it among the beneficiaries through ration shops under the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Last year, more than 44 thousand tonnes of green lentils were imported from the US to India, a small quantity of which was also sold in the open market.

Right now Indian importers are somewhat suspicious and therefore want to stop the import of lentils and other pulses for some time. Its loading in ships at US ports has been stopped.

The same situation is being seen in the case of other agricultural products as well. Everyone's attention is focused on US tariffs as August 27 is not far away now.