Consistent trade policy

Ad hoc tariffs and duties must be avoided

As part of its package to address the economic fallout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and consequent global economic turmoil, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced some tweaks to trade policy focused on the steel and plastics industries in particular. Ms Sitharaman’s concern is that rising input prices, alongside export, were rendering the final product scarce and expensive. She thus announced the government was “calibrating” Customs duties. Some tariffs for inputs and raw materials would be reduced, and export duty would be placed on steel products at the rate of 15 per cent. Export duty on iron ore, already