Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday reiterated that India is not going to compromise on the well-being of its farmers, fisher folks, and cattle keepers amid a standoff in commerce negotiations with the US over entry for American merchandise in India’s agriculture and dairy market. The standoff is being seen as one the explanations behind US President Donald Trump’s bulletins of tariffs totalling 50 per cent on Indian items, the best tariff price imposed by Washington on any nation.
“The well-being of Indian farmers, fisher folks, and cattle keepers is our foremost precedence. Modi is standing like a wall in opposition to any hostile coverage that would impression Indian farmers, fisherfolk and cattle keepers. India won’t ever compromise the pursuits of Indian farmers, fisherfolk and cattle keepers,” the Prime Minister mentioned throughout his Independence Day speech. The Prime Minister didn’t make a direct reference to tariffs introduced by Trump.
That is the second public speech inside every week through which the Prime Minister has expressed his dedication to forestall any hostile impression on Indian farmers. On August 7, after the US President Donald Trump introduced further 25 per cent tariffs on Indian items—over and above the 25 per cent introduced earlier—Modi had mentioned that he wouldn’t compromise “even when it entailed paying a really heavy private value”.
“Indian farmers have made vital contributions to the economic system. Their exhausting work has borne fruit. Final 12 months, farmers broke all data by way of grain manufacturing. At the moment, India is primary in milk, pulses and jute manufacturing. India is the second-largest fish producer, and likewise the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, vegetables and fruit. These merchandise are reaching overseas markets, and agro-product exports price Rs 4 lakh crore have been recorded,” the PM mentioned on Friday.
This comes amid calls for from the US to open the Indian agricultural market to American genetically modified (GM) merchandise which have historically confronted resistance within the nation from the farming neighborhood. India has to date not allowed GM meals crops. Farmers haven’t solely resisted overseas agricultural merchandise, they’ve sought to maintain agriculture out of the World Commerce Group (WTO). The Trump administration has additionally been pushing India to permit higher market entry for American dairy merchandise. New Delhi has been opposing these calls for from Washington.
Final month, the Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Actions (ICCFM), a farmers’ physique, urged the federal government to exclude all elements of agriculture from the US commerce deal in an effort to defend the pursuits of Indian farmers.
In a letter to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, the ICCFM warned that granting duty-free entry to US agricultural merchandise below a commerce settlement may have critical penalties. It mentioned that the US has been engaged in a commerce struggle with China, Mexico and Canada since 2018, which has severely affected its agricultural exports.
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“The US commerce deficit in agriculture has almost doubled, indicating a big surplus they could search to dump onto markets like India. For instance, soybean exports from the US dropped from $34.4 billion in 2022 to $24.5 billion in 2024, whereas corn exports fell from $18.6 billion to $13.9 billion throughout the identical interval,” the letter said.
The ICCFM additional emphasised the chance to Indian farmers, stating that the US authorities is among the many world’s largest agricultural subsidisers. The 2024 US Farm Invoice has allotted a staggering $1.5 trillion in direction of farm subsidies to American farmers.
These substantial helps not solely limit agricultural imports into the US but in addition allow American merchandise to enter export markets at artificially low costs. Permitting such closely subsidised US imports into India, the ICCFM argued, would undermine India’s longstanding place on the World Commerce Group (WTO) in opposition to these very subsidies.
A report by the State Financial institution of India (SBI) additionally cautioned that opening India’s dairy sector to US imports may end in an annual lack of Rs 1.03 lakh crore to Indian dairy farmers. The report highlighted that milk costs in India may drop by at the very least 15 per cent if the sector is opened up, considerably affecting the livelihoods of small dairy farmers as a result of closely subsidised US dairy business.
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