India is engaged with US on Section 301 investigations over forced labour and excess industrial capacity concerns.
USTR proposed 12.5% tariffs on 54 economies including India; measure remains proposal, not finalised yet.
India is parallelly negotiating interim trade agreement with US per February 7 joint statement framework.
Engaged with US on Sec 301 Probe Over Concerns Related to Forced Labour, Excess Capacity: Govt
USTR proposed 12.5% tariffs on 54 economies including India over forced labour; commerce ministry says India is also working on interim trade deal framework announced February 7
Advertisement
India is engaged with the US on the Section 301 investigations over concerns related to forced labour and excess industrial capacity, the government said on Wednesday.
The country is also "parallelly" engaged with the US for finalisation of an interim trade agreement, a framework for which was announced through a joint statement on February 7.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) launched two separate Section 301 investigations on March 11 and 12, 2026, covering 60 economies over concerns related to forced labour and excess industrial capacity.
The USTR on June 2 issued its findings in the forced labour investigation and proposed additional tariffs on imports from 60 economies.
The proposal includes a 10% tariff on imports from Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico, and Pakistan, and a 12.5% tariff on imports from 54 other economies, including India and China. Pakistan and Indonesia are India's competitors in the trade front.
Advertisement
The measure remains a proposal and has not yet been finalised.
"India remains engaged with the U.S. on the matter as a part of Section 301 proceedings. India is also parallelly engaged with the US for finalisation of a framework agreement as was announced on 2nd February 2026 and in accordance with the joint statement released on 7th February 2026," the commerce ministry said.