Are tariffs justified? Trump's reasons to come under lens

The US' reciprocal tariffs violate global trade norms but they are no threat to multilateralism as 80% of the global trade is still on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms, experts said, warning that India should be wary of such actions becoming a trend.

The US has justified the reciprocal tariffs as increasing domestic manufacturing is critical to its security amid a national emergency but the measures would be legally scrutinised, officials and experts said with countries approaching the WTO.

Brazil and the EU plan to move WTO against the US' action.


"The legal requisites of the US' reciprocal tariffs would have to be seen. Some countries are approaching the WTO though the Appellate Body is not functional even though Trump has invoked the emergency clause and created a narrative to impose reciprocal tariffs," said an official.

Trump has justified that the US has among the lowest simple average MFN tariff rates in the world at 3.3%, while its key trading partners like Brazil (11.2%), China (7.5%), the European Union (5%), India (17%) and Vietnam (9.4%) have simple average MFN tariff rates that are significantly higher.

"India should be worried and join hands with like minded countries who want to protect the multilateral trading system. This one window has been created to ignore the rules, which India must resist," said trade expert Abhijit Das.