US tariffs and trade barriers have severely impacted key sectors in India, while the ongoing West Asia crisis has led to increased freight costs, shipping time, insurance expenses, supply chain delays and growing pressure on export margins, exporters and industry bodies on Friday told a parliamentary committee.
Industry representatives also stressed that the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) between India and the US was crucial to ensuring “long-term trade predictability”.
The applications were made before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Trade, led by Trinamool Congress MP Dula Sen.
“The future course of India-US trade relations will depend largely on reaching a fair and balanced trade agreement, greater stability in US trade policy, India’s industrial competitiveness, continued supply chain diversification away from China, and geopolitical stability in West Asia and Eurasia,” the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) said in its memorandum submitted to the committee.
Read also:PM Modi and President Trump have a 40-minute phone conversation; Discussing the West Asian War and bilateral relations
“Trade relations between India and the United States are thus entering a phase characterized simultaneously by strategic cooperation and commercial bargaining,” she added. Sectors such as engineering goods, steel, aluminium, textiles, auto components and pharmaceuticals have been hurt by unpredictability in US trade policy, frequent tariff reviews, risks of product reclassifications, non-tariff barriers and stricter scrutiny of rules of origin, FIEO said.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) also told the committee that the US probe into “structural excess capacity and production” targeting 16 major economies could lead to higher tariffs on sectors such as textiles, foundry products, solar manufacturing, automobile and automotive components and steel. Bilateral trade between India and the United States has continually expanded despite periodic trade disputes and political frictions. Bilateral merchandise trade exceeded nearly $140 billion during FY26, compared to about $132 billion in FY25 and $119.7 billion in FY24.
“The committee will travel to Ahmedabad, Raipur and Odisha to meet stakeholders in the affected industries. We have also asked the skill development industry to provide us data on employment after their training,” TMC MP Dola Sen said.
