India signals trade war truce as US ramps up ‘tariffs’

Bloomberg

India again deferred the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on some US imports, signaling its readiness to find a solution to avert a trade war in contrast to the path China has taken.
The tariff plan has been deferred to November 2, according to a notification from the finance ministry. New Delhi had previously planned to levy higher tariffs effective from August 4, but they were delayed until September 18 as the two sides held meetings to avoid a full-blown trade war.
The move comes even as China announced it will retaliate against the US’s plan to impose a 10 percent tariff on about $200 billion in Chinese goods next week. That’s a stark contrast to how the Trump administration is dealing with India: the US is willing to exempt Indian steel and aluminum from tariffs with some conditions, local media reported.
India’s original tariff plan would have included walnuts, almonds, boric acid, apples, diagnostic reagents and some hot-rolled coil products from the US in response to Trump’s 25 percent and 10 percent duties on steel and aluminum, respectively.
India exported a total 9.6 million tons of finished steel in the year ended March 2018, according to government data.
Exports of the commodity during April-July slumped 33.5 percent from a year ago to 1.87 million tons, while imports have risen 6 percent to 2.66 million tons, according to provisional data from the steel ministry.