CITI applauds US–India tariff breakthrough, urges cotton duty removal

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has welcomed the reduction of US tariffs to 18 per cent, effective February 7, 2026. CITI expresses its sincere appreciation to the US President, Donald Trump, and the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, for successfully resolving the tariff issue.

“The earlier 50 per cent US tariff on Indian goods was the biggest pain point for the Indian textile and apparel sector, which counts the United States as its single-biggest overseas market. With that gone, India’s textile and apparel exports can once again compete effectively in the US, as at 18 per cent we will now also enjoy a slight tariff advantage over our nearest competitors, Vietnam and Bangladesh,” CITI chairman Ashwin Chandran said in a release.

“This highly positive development is a huge boost for India’s aim of textiles and apparel exports worth $100 billion by 2030, the ‘Make in India’ initiative, and job creation in the MSME-driven textiles and apparel industry. CITI is very grateful to the US President Donald Trump, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and all other Ministers and senior officials involved in the US and India for making it possible.”

China, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh are the largest exporters of textiles and apparel items to the United States. The US tariff rate on both Vietnam and Bangladesh is set at 20 per cent. An analysis by CITI of data from the US Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) showed that US imports of textiles and apparel from India dropped 31.4 per cent in November 2025 compared to November 2024.

The CITI chairman said the industry body is awaiting more clarity on cotton. There is great complementarity between the United States and India on cotton. India’s exports of textiles and apparel are primarily driven by cotton.

The Joint Statement of the United States and India on a framework for an Interim Agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade (Interim Agreement) said: “India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods and a wide range of U.S. food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains (DDGs), red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products.”

CITI believes that the removal of import duty on cotton of all varieties will reduce the divergence between domestic and global prices and help restore the competitiveness of India’s spinning and textile industries. Such a step would also ensure that the minimum support price (MSP) and other farmer-support mechanisms can function as intended without creating significant downstream price distortions. During the current cotton season, the MSP of ‘Kapas’ has increased by nearly 8 per cent.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (HU)