India likely to pursue with the U.S. on tariff waiver for garments made with U.S. cotton

India is likely to pursue with the U.S. to waive the 18% reciprocal tariff for garments that are made with U.S. cotton and exported to that country similar to the concession offered to Bangladesh.

Representatives of textile export promotion councils who participated in a meeting on Wednesday said there were indications that India will pursue with the U.S. to waive the reciprocal tariff on garments and textiles that were made with U.S. cotton or manmade fibre.

The U.S.-Bangladesh Agreement on Reciprocal Trade signed on February 9 says that the U.S. will establish a mechanism that will allow for certain textile and apparel goods from Bangladesh to receive zero reciprocal tariff rate for a to-be-specified volume of exports from Bangladesh that are produced with cotton and MMF textile inputs, from the U.S.

“The U.S. Bangladesh agreement is nothing to be worried about by the Indian textile and apparel sector. The government has allayed the fears of the industry and indicated that India will also pursue a similar proposal,” said A. Sakthivel, chairman of the Apparel Export Promotion Council.

India imports five lakh bales of American cotton annually, including 2.5 lakh bales of non-Extra Long Staple (ELS) varieties.