India denies ‘dumping’ premium basmati rice within the US | EUROtoday

India has firmly rejected accusations from Donald Trump that it’s “dumping” rice into the United States, asserting that its exports primarily include premium-grade basmati, which instructions considerably larger costs than different varieties.

The claims, made by Mr Trump final week, steered that additional tariffs might be levied on Indian rice. He accused India of “dumping” shipments into the US market, a time period referring to the apply of exporting a product at a worth beneath its regular worth.

Indian commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal countered the allegations, stating: “We don’t see a prima facie case of dumping, and as far as we know, the U.S. has not started any anti-dumping investigation either.”

This follows a transfer in August when Mr Trump doubled tariffs on varied Indian imports, together with textiles, chemical compounds, and meals objects like shrimp, to as a lot as 50 per cent.

As the world’s largest rice exporter, India shipped 20.2 million metric tons of rice within the 2024/25 monetary yr, which concluded in March.

Of this, 335,554 tons had been despatched to the United States, with 274,213 tons particularly being basmati rice.

A workforce led by Agrawal met U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Rick Switzer in Delhi final week to debate bilateral commerce together with talks on a proposed commerce pact.

Mr Trump’s feedback got here whereas responding to complaints that imports from India and different Asian international locations had been damaging American producers throughout a gathering on the White House with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, lawmakers, and farmers.

The president unveiled a $12bn support package deal for U.S. farmers amid mounting stress over rising shopper costs and chronic inflation, attributed in no small half to his sweeping tariffs on main world economies.

Some farmers on the assembly blamed imports for falling crop costs, claiming that international locations similar to India and Thailand had been undercutting them.