India slaps US with retaliatory tariffs on 28 products, including almonds and apples

India imposed higher retaliatory tariffs on 28 US products including almonds, apples and walnuts on Sunday.

The move comes after President Donald Trump scrapped trade privileges for India, the biggest beneficiary of a scheme that allowed duty-free exports of up to $5.6 billion.

India is by far the largest buyer of US almonds, paying $543 million for more than half of US almond exports in 2018.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will impose higher retaliatory tariffs on 28 U.S. products including almonds, apples and walnuts from Sunday, following Washington's withdrawal of key trade privileges for New Delhi.

The new duties take effect from Sunday, a government notification said, in the latest trade row since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in 2017 vowing to act against countries with which Washington has a large trade deficit.

From June 5, President Trump scrapped trade privileges under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for India, the biggest beneficiary of a scheme that allowed duty-free exports of up to $5.6 billion.

India termed that “unfortunate” and vowed to uphold its national interests.

Reuters previously reported India was preparing to levy higher tariffs ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first meeting with Trump on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Japan on June 28 and 29.

The new duties take effect from Sunday, a government notification said, in the latest trade row since U.S. President Donald Trump took office in 2017 vowing to act against countries with which Washington has a large trade deficit.

From June 5, President Trump scrapped trade privileges under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for India, the biggest beneficiary of a scheme that allowed duty-free exports of up to $5.6 billion.

India termed that “unfortunate” and vowed to uphold its national interests.

Reuters previously reported India was preparing to levy higher tariffs ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first meeting with Trump on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Japan on June 28 and 29.

India is by far the largest buyer of U.S. almonds, paying $543 million for more than half of U.S. almond exports in 2018, U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows. It is the second largest buyer of U.S. apples, taking $156 million worth in 2018.

New Delhi's new rules in areas such as e-commerce and data localization have already angered the United States and hit companies such as Amazon.com, Walmart Inc, Mastercard and Visa, among others.

Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne