US tariffs should not be cause for disengaging from trade talks, blocs

The fundamental challenge for the Indian economy is to increase productivity and competitiveness

The tariff rate of 25 per cent, which United States (US) President Donald Trump has decided will be applied to Indian exports to the US, may not, eventually, be the final rate. It may effectively wind up being higher if he carries out his threat to add a surcharge related to India’s increasing purchases of Russian oil. It may be lower if New Delhi’s negotiators pull some sort of a broader deal together. It is also worth remembering that there will be multiple exceptions to this headline tariff rate. Some goods that compose a large part of India-US trade —