White House drops pulses from list of US goods India is to cut tariffs on

The White House on Tuesday dropped a reference to pulses from a fact sheet about the trade deal between the United States and India. This means that the item is not among the commodities on which tariffs for the US are known to have been reduced or eliminated.

A joint statement announcing the agreement on February 6 did not contain any reference to pulses, and the White House’s addition of the term later had sparked criticism from the Opposition in India.

The fact sheet had earlier said that New Delhi will eliminate or reduce tariffs on “all US industrial goods” and a wide range of American food and agricultural products, “including dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, certain pulses, soybean oil, wine and spirits and additional products”.

The earlier fact sheet by the White House had also said that India had “committed” to buying more American products, and purchasing $500 billion worth of US energy, information and communication technology, agriculture, coal and other products.

The document has now been modified to read that India “intends” to buy more American products.

The updated fact sheet on Tuesday also removes an earlier statement that said that India “will remove its digital services taxes”. The current version reads: “India committed to negotiate a robust...

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