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

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 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”.

After the framework for the interim trade deal was announced, farmer unions under the banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha called for nationwide protests.

They described the agreement as a direct threat to Indian agriculture, dairy and rural livelihoods, The Indian Express reported.

According to the Unified Portal for Agricultural Statistics, India’s total pulses production in 2024-’25 was 252.3 lakh tonnes.

In the same year, India exported 793,291.5 metric tonnes of pulses.

Separately, the earlier fact sheet by the White House had also said that India had “committed” to buying more American products, and purchasing...

Read more