The US wants India to remove both tariff and non-tariff barriers for American companies and eliminate data localisation restrictions that weaken data security and increase the cost of doing business. US businesses complain of facing significant market access barriers in India. These include both tariff and non-tariff barriers, as well as multiple practices and regulations that disadvantage foreign companies. The US feels India’s average applied tariff rate of 13.8 per cent is the highest of any major world economy. While India’s import duty on ICT products such as network routers and switches and parts of cellular phones is as high as 20 per cent, the US rate for these same products is zero. India has countered by saying that domestic support per farmer in the US is a massive 267 times India’s and that huge subsidies have led to a competitive advantage of farm products of developed countries in the global market, which has forced developing ones like India to offer limited tariff protection to their farmers from the onslaught of heavily subsidised imports. The US imposes very high import duties on several products, including 350 per cent on tobacco and 164 per cent on peanuts.

US exports of goods to India last year jumped by 29 per cent while India’s exports to the US rose 12 per cent.