Donald Trump has brought India special trade deal to a close

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The President announced in March the preferential treatment would be revoked but at the time did not reveal a date when it would happen. India has benefitted from a scheme that has seen up to $5.6billion worth of goods enter the US duty-free, but this will end next week on June 5. The preferential trade treatment comes under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme which aids growth in developing countries and has been key in the growth of India.

The move comes after Turkey’s preferential status under the scheme was also ended last month as the administration aims to curb unfair trading relationships with other nations. In a proclamation, Mr Trump said: “I have determined that India has not assured the US that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets. Accordingly, it is appropriate to terminate India’s beneficiary developing country effective June 5, 2019.” The change means that India will pay increasing tariffs on products such as solar panels and washers, suspending the exemption it had granted as India was a developing country. President Trump said: “I have determined to remove it from the list of developing country WTO members exempt from application of the safeguard measures on CSPV products and large residential washers.”

India's Narendra Modi has secured a second term as Prime Minister