New Delhi [India], August 10 : The Standing Committee on External Affairs, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, will be briefed on the latest developments in India's foreign policy tomorrow, sources said.
The panel will be briefed by the representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on the current developments in India's Foreign Policy with special reference to US-India trade negotiations and tariffs, they said.
Earlier this week, on Friday, while responding to the 50% tariffs on India imposed by the United States, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said that India must also safeguard its interests.
"What is happening is concerning. A country with which we had close relations, and we were working as strategic partners. If that country has changed its behaviour, then India will have to think about many things...Perhaps in the coming two to three weeks, we can hold talks and find a way out. India will also have to look after its own interests," Tharoor said.
Tharoor had on Thursday said that India should also raise tariffs on American goods to 50 per cent in response to the US imposing an additional 25 per cent duty on Indian exports. Tharoor questioned why India should stop at the current 17 per cent tariff and emphasised that the country should not be intimidated by such actions. He also said that no country should be allowed to threaten India in this manner.
Addressing reporters here, Tharoor said, "It will definitely have an impact because we have a trade of $90 billion with them, and if everything becomes 50 per cent more expensive, buyers will also think why should they buy Indian things?... If they do this, we should also impose a 50 per cent tariff on American exports... It is not that any country can threaten us like this...".
"Our average tariffs on American goods are 17 per cent. Why should we stop at 17 per cent? We should also raise it to 50 per cent... We need to ask them, do they not value our relationship? If India doesn't matter to them, they should also not matter to us," Tharoor said.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India. Trump cited matters of national security and foreign policy concerns, as well as other relevant trade laws, for the increase, claiming that India's imports of Russian oil, directly or indirectly, pose an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States.
Terming the United States' move to impose additional tariffs on India over its oil imports from Russia as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) declared that New Delhi will take "all actions necessary to protect its national interests.