India's counter to US tariff:  Plans Textile exports to 40 countries

India in its first countermeasure to US President Donald Trump's 50% tariff on Indian goods, announced dedicated outreach programmes in 40 key markets, including the UK, Japan, and South Korea, to boost textile exports, an official said on Wednesday. The targeted push will also cover Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Belgium, Turkiye, the UAE, and Australia.

"In each of these 40 markets, this is proposed to pursue a targeted approach, positioning itself as a reliable supplier of quality, sustainable, and innovative textile products with the lead role of the Indian industry, including EPCs and Indian Missions in these countries," the official told news agency PTI. The plan aims to position India as a reliable supplier of sustainable and innovative textile products, with Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) and Indian missions playing a lead role, officials added. Currently, India exports to more than 220 countries, but officials say 40 select markets, ncluding the UK, Japan, South Korea, Germany, France, and Australia—hold the real key to diversification.

Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke about India - US bilateral ties, saying they were "complicated", but expressed confidence that the two countries would come together "at the end of the day". In an interview with Fox Business, Bessent said he had hoped that a trade deal would be reached with India by May or June and highlighted that New Delhi's stance in the negotiations was "performative". "The Indians came in early after Liberation Day to start negotiating on tariffs and we still don't have a deal. I thought we would have a deal by May or June. i thought India could be our earlier deals and they tapped us along in terms of negotiations. There's also that aspect of Russian crude purchases which they have been profiteering on," he said.

"The US is the deficit country. When there is a schism in trade relations, the deficit country's at an advantage. It's the surplus country that should worry. So, the Indians are selling to us. They have very high tariffs and we have a very large deficit with them," he said. Asked if India would trade in rupee or with the Brics nations, the Treasury Secretary rejected speculation about the rupee becoming a global reserve currency. "A lot of things I worry about. The rupee becoming the reserve currency isn't one of them," he said. He also stressed that the rupee is currently near an all-time low against the US dollar.