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 $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 set of bilateral digital trade rules that address discriminatory or burdensome practices and other barriers to digital trade.”

On Tuesday, the Congress had questioned whether the additions in the US fact sheet meant that the list that Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal presented at a press conference was not a “final or exhaustive” one.

“It now looks like a rolling, expandable inventory, gradually widened to serve American export interests at the cost of Indian farmers,” the Congress’ publicity chief Pawan Khera had said.

Indian goods had been facing a combined US tariff rate of 50%, including a punitive levy of 25% imposed in August for purchasing Russian oil. Trump had on Saturday removed the additional 25% punitive levy, bringing the effective US tariff rate on Indian imports down to 18%.

This was after India and the US agreed on a framework for the interim trade deal on February 2. The agreement had reduced US tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 25%.

Following the announcement, Opposition parties also expressed concern that farmers’ interests were being jeopardised.

On February 4, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said in Parliament that the interests of sensitive sectors such as agriculture and dairy will be protected under the trade deal between India and the US.

However, farmer unions have alleged that the framework contradicts repeated assurances by Goyal that agriculture and dairy would be kept outside of the agreement.

An executive order issued by the White House on Friday had also stated that the 25% punitive tariff was being withdrawn as New Delhi had committed to stop “directly or indirectly” importing Russian oil.

On Monday, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri refrained from making a direct reference to the US’ claim, but reiterated New Delhi’s position that decisions on importing oil will continue to be guided by “national interests”.

After the joint statement was released on Saturday, the Opposition alleged that the trade agreement would be “heavily tilted in favour of the US” and that the deal amounted to a surrender by the Narendra Modi government.