The Indian Textiles Ministry is considering whether to press the US for the same quota-based tariff relief recently extended to competing garment-exporting nations.
The Textiles Ministry has begun internal deliberations on how to respond to the United States’ newly unveiled forced-labour tariff regime.
On July 23, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced penal duties on imports from 60 economies, including India, following its Section 301 investigations into forced labour practices. These replaced the global 10% tariffs under Section 122 that lapsed on July 24.
While India, the UK, Canada, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and 13 other economies were subjected to a 10% additional tariff, 41 others, including China, Turkey, Vietnam and Brazil were hit with a higher 12.5% duty.
“However, the USTR also introduced TRQs for specified imports of textiles and apparel made from US-origin cotton or fibres from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia, allowing limited quantities to enter at lower duty rates. But India will not receive this benefit,” The Hindu Business Line said quoting sources.
“Indian exporters have expressed concern that the absence of a similar arrangement for India could erode their competitiveness in the US market, particularly in product segments where the beneficiary countries compete directly with Indian manufacturers. Some have said that securing a comparable carve-out should be a priority in discussions with the US to prevent any loss of market share,” the source said.
The ministry’s current stance is to hold off on formal outreach until the US Trade Representative’s office publishes the fine print governing how the quota system will actually function.
Once those operational rules are public, Indian officials plan to raise the issue with their American counterparts — either as a standalone bilateral or folded into the broader negotiations underway for an India-US trade agreement.
Exporters have flagged worries that being left out of the quota scheme could hand a pricing and market-access edge to direct competitors, especially in product categories where Indian firms go head-to-head with Bangladeshi, Indonesian, or Malaysian suppliers in the US market.
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