Govt sets up control room to monitor Trump's tariff announcements: Report

The government has set up a control room to monitor the announcements by US President Donald Trump regarding the imposition of reciprocal tariffs against key trading partners including India at 1.30 am (India time), source said.

Senior officials from ministries including commerce and industry will be present in the control room for close watch of the announcements, they said.

US President Donald Trump has said the tariff announcements, scheduled for early morning Thursday (India time), will turn out to be a 'Liberation Day' for the US. 

The commerce ministry is working on possible four scenarios to assess the potential fallout of these reciprocal tariffs as there is still an uncertainty over the quantum and manner in which these levies will be imposed.

 

According to trade experts, the duties could be announced either country wise of sector wise or at product level.

The domestic industry and exporters have raised concerns over the possible impact of the US' reciprocal tariffs on India's exports as the duties could make the goods uncompetitive in the global markets. The US is the largest trading partner of India.

Though they are expressing hope that as the two countries are negotiating a bilateral trade agreement, the US may take a different view on India in tariffs.

India and the US are aiming to conclude the first phase of the agreement by the fall of 2025 (September-October). They have also set a target to more than double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 from the present level of over $190 billion.

According to the US Trade Representative's (USTR) National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report 2025, India maintains "high" import duties on a wide range of American goods such as agricultural items, drug formulations, and alcoholic beverages, besides imposing non-tariff barriers.

Currently, US goods face a weighted average tariff of 7.7 per cent in India, while Indian exports to the US attract only 2.8 per cent, leading to a 4.9 per cent difference. Indian farm exports to the US currently face a 5.3 per cent duty, whereas US farm exports to India face a much higher 37.7 per cent, creating a wide gap of 32.4 per cent.