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The US has reiterated that India maintains high import duties on a range of goods, including agricultural products, pharmaceuticals and alcoholic beverages, along with various non-tariff barriers, according to the US Trade Representative's 2026 National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report on foreign trade barriers, released on March 31. India maintains high applied tariffs on a wide range of goods, including vegetable oils (as high as 45 percent); apples, corn, and motorcycles (50 percent); automobiles and flowers (60 percent); natural rubber (70 percent); coffee, raisins, and walnuts (100 percent); and alcoholic beverages (150 percent). In addition, India maintains very high basic customs duties (in some cases exceeding 20 percent) on drug formulations, including life-saving drugs and finished medicines listed on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines. High tariff rates also present a significant barrier to trade in other agricultural goods and processed foods (e.g., poultry, potatoes, citrus, almonds, pecans, grapes, canned peaches, chocolate, cookies, frozen french fries, and other prepared foods used in fast-food restaurants), the report noted. As per the report, given the large disparity between WTO bound and applied rates, India has considerable flexibility to change tariff rates for both agricultural and non-agricultural products at any time, creating tremendous uncertainty for US workers, farmers, ranchers, and exporters.
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