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India is reportedly planning to end duties on imports of ethane and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the U.S. as New Delhi negotiates a trade deal with Washington, Reuters reported on Apr. 16.
India currently imposes import duties of 2.5% on ethane, primarily used to produce petrochemicals, and propane and butane, used for LPG that is used for cooking.
On Apr. 2, President Donald Trump imposed "reciprocal tariffs" on 180 countries before pausing them for 90 days on all except China — India's neighbour — on Apr. 9.
Related: Trump Tariff Live Updates: Trump open to make a trade deal with Xi Jinping
As reported earlier, India and the U.S. have finalized "terms of reference" over the first segment of a bilateral trade deal. An Indian official said that a "win-win shape and form" to the deal is possible within the 90-day period.
In fact, India has also been considering ending import duties on liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the U.S. The gas is primarily used for power generation, fertilizer production, and long-distance transport fuel.
"PM Narendra Modi and President Trump had already come to a decision in February that they would sign a bilateral trade agreement to boost mutual relations in order to ease trade between the two nations, which will take trade to $500 billion," India’s commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal earlier said.
The two countries have a bilateral trade worth $191 billion as of now.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-China tariff war has escalated sharply as Washington hiked tariffs on Chinese imports to 245% on Apr. 15.
The crypto market didn't react positively to the development. Its market cap declined more than 2% within 24 hours to $2.77 trillion at the time of writing.
Bitcoin was trading at $83,927.54 at press time, as per Kraken's price feed.
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