Authorities in India and the US have taken a step closer to securing a Bilateral Trade Agreement that could create significant benefit for alcohol shipments between the two countries.
Late last week, the pair released a joint statement confirming the outline framework for an interim agreement as the current status of their trade discussions. The agreement will see India “eliminate or reduce tariffs on … a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including … wine and spirits,” the US administration said.
In return, the US said it “affirms that it intends to take into consideration, during the negotiations of the BTA, India’s request that the US continue to work to lower tariffs on Indian goods”. The development garnered a cautiously optimistic response from the trade association for spirits producers and brand owners in the US.
“Last year’s tariff reduction on US spirits imports to India was an important first step that opened new opportunities for bourbon producers in the world’s largest whiskey market,” said the CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the US, Chris Swonger.
“With India now reaching agreements with the EU and the UK to significantly reduce tariffs on their spirits, we are hopeful that this new US–India agreement will secure comparable tariff reductions across all categories of US distilled spirits, ensuring fair and competitive access to the Indian marketplace.”
Late last month, India signed a free-trade agreement with the European Union that will see the latter’s exports of wine and spirits to the former benefit from sizable tariff reductions; in spirits’ case, for example, from the current 150% rate to 40%. The UK reached its own deal with India in May last year, drawing excitement from the scotch whisky industry.
