India on Sunday imposed higher tariffs on 28 items imported from the US, in retaliation to Washington’s recent withdrawal of trade privileges for New Delhi. The increased duties apply to products including almonds, apples and walnuts, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs said. India would “implement the imposition of retaliatory duties on 28 specified goods originating in or exported from [the] USA”, it said in a notification. The list initially included 29 goods but artemia, a kind of shrimp, has been removed. India is the number two market for California almonds and Washington apples. The trade tensions came despite efforts from Washington to boost ties with India as a counterweight to China and assertions made by both US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about their good relationship . The stage for the row was set last year after Washington refused to exempt India from higher steel and aluminium tariffs, in keeping with Trump’s decision to act against countries with which it has a large trade deficit. India responded by saying it would raise import taxes on a slew of US goods. But it delayed raising tariffs several times, hoping for negotiation to tackle the sticky trade issue. However Trump’s decision this month to strip New Delhi of its preferential trade status appears to have prompted the latest Indian move. New Delhi said the US withdrawal from the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) was “unfortunate” and India would always uphold its national interest in such matters. US postpones high-level dialogue with India as Donald Trump’s tariff threats ratchet up global tensions The GSP programme, introduced in 1976, is aimed at promoting economic growth in developing countries and allows designated countries to export some 2,000 industrial and textile products to the US duty-free. India was the biggest beneficiary. India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, however, minimised the effects of the change after a Board of Trade meeting on June 7. “It has had an impact on some sectors, some places … 1 per cent, 2 per cent,” he said. “India is no more an underdeveloped or least developed country that we will look at that kind of support.” According to the new tariffs, import duty on walnuts has been increased to 120 per cent from 30 per cent and on chickpeas and lentils it has been raised to 70 per cent from 30 per cent currently. Pain of tariffs and sanctions behind China and Russia’s push to dethrone the US dollar The trade row is likely to be taken up when Trump and Modi meet at the G20 summit on June 28-29 in Osaka. It is also likely to be raised in talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is expected to visit India later this month. At a recent meeting of the US-India Business Council in Washington, Pompeo said “some tough topics” were likely to be on the table during his New Delhi visit, including the GSP programme. “We remain open to dialogue, and hope that our friends in India will drop their trade barriers and trust in the competitiveness of their own companies,” he said. Fascist fest as Trump’s America meets Modi’s Hindus According to the domestic media, India will get about 217 million dollars additional revenue from such imports after Saturday’s notification. US goods and services trade with India stood at an estimated US$142.1 billion in 2018. The US trade deficit with India was US$24.2 billion, according to official data. Washington is already engaged in a full-blown trade war with India’s regional rival China. Agence France-Presse, dpa