India is avoiding America's tariff war and will shortly finalise a free trade agreement with Oman
India-Oman Free Trade Agreement: A free trade agreement is going to be done soon between India and Oman. An official of the Ministry of External Affairs said that the document of the agreement is being translated into Arabic. After this, the cabinets of both the countries will approve it together. There is a trade of 10 billion dollars between the two countries.
America has imposed 50 percent tariff on India. 25 percent tariff is applicable from August 7, while an additional 25 percent tariff will be effective from August 27. Indian exporters are facing difficulties due to American tariff. American importers have cancelled their orders. PM Modi stated in a recent meeting that he is willing to pay any price to protect the interests of farmers. Actually, the United States is pressuring India to open its agricultural sector, but the Indian government is not ready to agree to this, as it aims to protect the interests of its farmers. Now India has started working on a strategy to avoid the US tariff war. Information has come to the fore that a free trade agreement may soon be signed between India and the Gulf country Oman.
An official of the Ministry of External Affairs said that the document of the agreement is being translated into Arabic. After this, the cabinets of both countries will approve it together. He said that both countries have decided in principle to announce the agreement and sign it together. He said that all this will happen in less than two to three months.
He said that this agreement is officially called the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Negotiations between India and Oman on this started in November 2023. He said that under the CPA, both countries will reduce or eliminate customs duty on each other's goods. It will simplify the rules of bilateral trade and promote investment.
Oman is the third largest export destination for India among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. India has also signed a similar agreement with another GCC member, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is effective from May 2022. According to the information, bilateral trade between India and Oman has been more than US$10 billion. This includes exports of $ 4.06 billion and imports of $ 6.55 billion. India buys petroleum products and urea from Oman. This is 70 percent of the total imports.
