Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], February 10 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said the India-US Interim Trade Agreement would not benefit the Union Territory and would instead harm the interests of local farmers.
Speaking to reporters, Abdullah warned that duty-free imports of agricultural products would adversely affect the region’s economy. “This will definitely cause harm. If nuts, dry fruits, fresh fruits, and dairy are imported duty-free, there will be losses. What else do we have? We do not have any marine or seafood products, but we do offer dried fruits, walnuts, almonds, saffron, apples, and kiwis. If these come duty-free from America, losses are inevitable. We gain nothing from this deal; it is nothing but losses,” he said.
The United States and India last week announced that they had reached a framework for an Interim Agreement on reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade. The framework reaffirmed both countries’ commitment to broader US-India Bilateral Trade Agreement negotiations, launched by US President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13, 2025. The negotiations are expected to include additional market access commitments and support more resilient supply chains.
A joint statement described the Interim Agreement as a historic milestone in the partnership between the two countries, demonstrating a shared commitment to reciprocal and balanced trade based on mutual interests and concrete outcomes.
According to the key terms of the agreement, India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products. These include dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruits, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and several other products.
The statement added that the United States will apply a reciprocal tariff rate of 18 percent under Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025, as amended, on Indian-origin goods such as textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, plastics and rubber, organic chemicals, home decor items, artisanal products, and certain machinery.
Upon the successful conclusion of the Interim Agreement, the United States will remove reciprocal tariffs on a wide range of Indian goods listed in the Potential Tariff Adjustments for Aligned Partners annex to Executive Order 14346 of September 5, 2025, as amended. These include generic pharmaceuticals, gems and diamonds, and aircraft parts.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the Centre has not “opened up” the domestic market for US apples under the interim trade pact, but has instead provided a quota that is lower than current apple imports, while safeguarding Indian apple growers.
“We are not surplus in apples. The demand for apples is more than 25–26 lakh tons, while we produce about 20–21 lakh tons. We import around 5.5 lakh tons of apples every year, a large quantity of which comes from the United States. We have not opened up apples. We have given them a quota that is less than the current imports from the USA,” Goyal said in an interview with ANI.
He added that Indian apple farmers would continue to receive protection through import regulations that prevent underpriced apples from entering the market. “Apples have a minimum import price of Rs 50, with a 50 percent duty adding Rs 25. So Rs 75 is the floor price below which goods cannot enter the country. Even within the quota given to the US, the minimum import price is Rs 80, with a Rs 20 duty. This brings the landed price to Rs 100,” Goyal said.
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