Piyush Goyal allays exporters’ fears on US reciprocal tariffs, confident of $900 bln exports in FY26

New Delhi: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday assured exporters that the government is working overtime to protect India’s interests in the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) being negotiated with the United States but said that the country cannot be protectionist at a time when the world is moving towards reciprocity. The US has announced imposing reciprocal tariffs on many countries including India from April 2.

He also allayed the concerns of the industry with regard to the US and called on them to reflect on their strengths and share their demands and interests with the government for better engagement with Washington.

“Reflecting on the reciprocal tariffs, he has cautioned the councils to come out of their protectionist mindset and encouraged them to be bold and ready to deal with the world from a position of strength and self-confidence,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement after Goyal held a consultation with export promotion councils and industry associations.

Reminding them of the budgetary announcement of Export Promotion Mission focusing on new products, new markets and new exporters, Goyal urged the industry to come forward with suggestions to effectively shape the schemes to achieve the desired goal.

Reflecting on the changing global scenario, the minister assured that the government is working on overtime basis, and will leave no stone unturned to ensure a good future for Indian exporters, both merchandise and service and to protect the interest of the country, according to the ministry.

On the ongoing efforts on bilateral agreements, he said that the government is concurrently acting on several tracks and each one of those tracks is aimed at ensuring best interest of the Indian exporters.

“Indicating that the government has reached final stages in FTAs with few in particular, the minister was positive that it will lead to much better opportunities for Indian exporters and will also bring in higher investment,” the ministry said.

The ministry asked exporters to identify areas in which they need market access and products where the government can cut duties on American imports.

“Held a stakeholder consultation meeting with Export Promotion Councils and Industry Associations to discuss strategies for strengthening India's export ecosystem. The optimism among our industry stakeholders in transforming global challenges into opportunities is truly encouraging. With an evolving global trade landscape, we explored ways to expand into new markets and strengthen competitiveness to drive India's export growth,” Goyal said in a post on X.

Officials said the government aims to take care of Indian consumers through the BTA with the US and ensure that they get better quality products.

Industry’s concerns
Exporters and industry representatives raised concerns over dumping of chemicals, plastics and steel from China because of the tariffs imposed by the US. They said only small value goods are being shipped to the US owing to the tariff uncertainty.

“Concerns related to dumping of chemicals, plastics and steel from China and the undercutting of prices were raised,” an industry representative who participated in the meeting said on condition of anonymity.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations director general Ajay Sahai said: “Dumping of Chinese goods and undercutting is a concern and exporters have to ensure that their share remains intact in key markets.”

The US on March 12 imposed 25% tariffs on its steel and aluminium imports. Exporters raised the issue at the meeting as they expect a hit to shipments. The $5 billion of annual engineering goods exports and $1 billion of shipments in transit on the high seas will be subject to higher tariffs.

“MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) exporters are a worried lot. Since voyage time to the US is approximately 60 days, about $1 billion is on the high seas and will be affected by this duty,” said Pankaj Chadha, chairman, EEPC India.

Export push
Goyal said that India is on the path to cross $800 billion this year with the major share of services exports but asked merchandise exporters to remain ahead of the curve and increase their exports.

“Additional increase in exports in the last fortnight will usher in the confidence of the Exporters to try and aspire to cross $900 billion exports in the coming year,” the ministry said.

The ministry also asked exporters to push merchandise shipments in March as the export data doesn’t look encouraging.
“Goods exports in February could be lower than in the corresponding month last year which may impact the exports data for the full year,” said the industry representative cited earlier.

India’s goods exports shrank for the third straight month and were down 2.38% year-on-year to $36.43 billion in January, while the merchandise trade deficit widened to a two-month high of $22.99 billion from $16.56 billion a year ago and $21.94 billion in December 2024.