The rate India actually pays
Market chatter still cites an “** per cent reciprocal” rate on Indian goods under the February **** framework. That number is not live. After the US Supreme Court struck down International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)-based tariffs in the reciprocal architecture collapsed and every major apparel supplier reverted to the flat ** per cent Section *** surcharge. At present, an Indian cotton-knit T-shirt (Harmonized Tariff Schedule [HTS] ****) enters the United States at a most-favoured-nation (MFN) duty of about **.* per cent, plus the ** per cent Section *** surcharge, resulting in a total duty burden of roughly ** per cent. On a $** free on board (FOB) shipment, that translates to approximately $*.** in duty before freight. If Section *** expires on July ** and is replaced by a **.* per cent Section *** duty without an India-specific concession, the duty burden would rise to about $*.**. By contrast, a first-tranche BTA that secures placement in the proposed ** per cent Section *** tier or provides textile-mechanism coverage would reduce the additional tariff layer to around $*.**. That difference will directly influence sourcing decisions.
Chart *. Section *** duty scenarios on a $** FOB cotton-knit tee (HTS ****).
Source: Derived calculation; MFN and Section *** verified, Section *** tiers proposed by United States Trade Representative (USTR).
