US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will meet Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu on May 6 here to discuss trade-related issues amid America’s decision to withdraw export benefits to Indian exporters, sources said.

“Ross is coming to participate in the Trade Winds Indo-Pacific Forum and Mission and would hold bilateral meeting with Prabhu,” one of the sources said.

Issues such as withdrawal of GSP benefits by Washington are expected to come up for the discussion.

Currently, the India-US trade relations are going through a rough patch as the US has decided to withdraw export benefits to Indian exporters under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme, which is expected to impact India’s exports to the US worth $5.6 billion under this scheme.

The Trump administration has alleged that India in imposing high import duties on products such as paper and Harley Davidson motorcycles from America.

Retaliatory tariffs

On the other hand, India has notified retaliatory tariffs on 29 US products such as almond and walnut but has time and again extended the deadline for imposing them. The latest deadline will end on May 2 and the Commerce Ministry has asked the revenue department to again extend the deadline by another 14 days.

According to another source, India may go ahead with this notification if the US would withdraw the GSP benefits on May 2. The notice period given by the US would end on May 2.

The US decided to withdraw GSP benefits even though both the sides were negotiating a kind of trade package to enhance the two-way commerce.

Although, the government has said that the US government’s move to withdraw duty concessions would not have any significant impact on exports to America, small and medium exporters have flagged concerns.

Trade Winds Indo-Pacific Forum and Mission is a US government-sponsored trade show and a kind of trade outreach programme at the business-to-business level.

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