New Delhi [India], February 12: Congress MP Jebi Mather on Thursday voiced concerns over the India-US Interim Trade Agreement, claiming it has begun affecting domestic sectors, including apple growers in Kashmir, and said the Opposition is raising the issue in Parliament to highlight the impact on people's livelihoods across the country.
"Did you hear the news from Kashmir? The apple growers from Kashmir have already said that their business is affected. There will be similar responses from different sectors in various parts of the country. If all the sectors are going to face such difficulty, then do you expect the Opposition to remain silent? We are speaking for the people. This is the reason Rahul Gandhi ji made a categorical speech in Parliament," Mather said
Earlier today the Opposition MPs staged a protest against the India-US trade deal at the Makar Dwar of Parliament in the national capital.
Terming the agreement as a "trap deal" they staged a protest and held placards.
The opposition also protested in favour of the Bharat Bandh called by trade unions to oppose various central policies.
Workers and farmers across India participated in a nationwide strike called today to protest central government policies, including labour codes, trade agreements, privatisation, and other measures perceived as anti-worker and anti-farmer.
This comes amidst the ongoing tussle between the government and the opposition over the India-US interim trade in the current budget session
Yesterday, Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, while hitting out at the Centre over the India-US interim trade, said the Government itself has acknowledged that the world is facing a global storm, with the era of a single superpower coming to an end, intensifying geopolitical conflicts, and the weaponisation of energy and finance. Despite recognising this reality, he alleged, the government has allowed the United States to weaponise energy and financial systems in ways that affect India.
The United States and India announced last week that they have reached a framework for an Interim Agreement on reciprocal, mutually beneficial trade.
The framework reaffirmed the two countries' commitment to the broader US-India Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations, launched by President Donald J Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13, 2025, which will include additional market access commitments and support more resilient supply chains
A Joint Statement said that the Interim Agreement between the United States and India will represent a historic milestone in our countries' partnership, demonstrating a common commitment to reciprocal and balanced trade based on mutual interests and concrete outcomes.
According to key terms of the Interim Agreement, India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers' grains (DDGs), red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products.
It said the United States will apply a reciprocal tariff rate of 18 percent under Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025, as amended, on originating goods of India, including textile and apparel, leather and footwear, plastic and rubber, organic chemicals, home decor, artisanal products, and certain machinery.
On successful conclusion of the Interim Agreement, US will remove the reciprocal tariff on a wide range of goods identified in the Potential Tariff Adjustments for Aligned Partners Annex to Executive Order 14346 of September 5, 2025, as amended, including generic pharmaceuticals, gems and diamonds, and aircraft parts.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has stated that the Centre has not "opened up" the market for US apples under the interim trade pact, but instead has given them a "quota" that is less than current apple imports, while protecting domestic apple growers.
"We are not surplus in apples. The demand for apples is more than 25-26 lakh tons. We produce about 20-21 lakh tons. As we speak, we import 5.5 lakh tons of apples every year. And a large quantity of that comes from the United States of America. We have not opened up apples. We have given them a quota on apples, which we will procure from there. That is less than the Current imports of apples from the USA," Goyal said in an interview with ANI.
The Union Minister argued that apple farmers in India will receive protection from import regulations that prevent cheap apples from flooding the market.
"We have been very cautious in our opening up. Today, Apple has a minimum import price of Rs 50. And there's a 50 per cent duty which adds Rs 25. So, Rs 75 is the base, or the floor, below which goods don't enter the country. So in some sense, that's the protection that the apple farmers also get, that nobody can dump material and make it so cheap that apples don't get a fair value. Even in the quota we have given to the US, the minimum import price is Rs 80. They make high-quality apples. It's Rs 80. There's a Rs 20 duty on that. So the landed price of that will be 100 rupees," Goyal said.