President Donald Trump’s Section 301 tariffs face internal resistance, with 25 Democrat-led states challenging them in the US Court of International Trade.
The coalition has argued that these re-impose the same sweeping tariffs that earlier failed judicial scrutiny and hurt American businesses as well as consumers.
What’s more, no evidence has been produced to show that forced labour is used by the value chains of exporters in targeted countries, even if it would qualify as an unfair trade practice under the law that Washington invoked.
There is no saying what the court will decide, but the US administration has shown a propensity to deploy tariffs by hook or crook, which should be reason enough to give the findings of its forced labour probes a good hard look.
Trump’s ‘reciprocal tariffs’ fell on procedural grounds. His Section 301 barriers seem firmer on that score, but the discrimination being alleged against the US to justify them lacks credibility.
As India and the US pursue negotiations for a trade deal, it would be best if New Delhi keeps track of legal proceedings in America. Nothing needs to be signed in a hurry. Remember, this is a relationship between economies, not individuals.