Inside the Indian factories hit hard by US’s 50% tariffs

Strange silence hanging on the unit of clothing manufacturer N Krishnamurthy in Tiruppur, one of the largest textile export centers in India.

Only a small portion of about 200 industrial sewing machines is operated on the ground, as workers export the latest children’s clothing orders in the season for some of the largest retailers in the United States.

At one end of the room, piles of fabric samples for new designs collect dust – victims of US President Donald Trump A 50 % very slope tariff on IndiaIt is scheduled to kick from Wednesday.

India is a major source of goods, including clothes, shrimp, gemstones and jewelry, for the United States. Commercial experts say the high definitions – including a 25 % penalty for buying oil and Russian weapons – Closer to a ban on Indian goods.

The BBC has visited the main export centers across India to assess how commercial uncertainty affect business owners and livelihoods.

Through Tiruppur – which contributes to a third of India’s exports of $ 16 billion (11.93 billion pounds) of ready -to -wear clothes to trademarks such as TARGET, Walmart, GAP and Zara – there is sharp concern about what the future holds.

“September ascending, nothing may remain to do,” said Krishnamori, as customers stopped all requests.

He recently had to stop his expansion plans and design approximately 250 new workers appointed before the imposition of customs duties.

The timing of advertising has made things worse because nearly half of the annual sales of most export companies are manufactured during this period, in the period before Christmas.

Now these units work on the local market and the next Diwali season in India, to survive.

In another factory that makes underwear, we saw a stock of approximately one million dollars, dedicated to American stores, with no detainee.

“We were hoping that India would collect a commercial deal with the United States. The entire production chain was frozen last month. How will I pay workers if this continues?” Soba Suprammanam, the owner of the clothing crane, told the BBC.

With a 50 % tariff rate, it will cost an Indian shirt made once at $ 10 US buyers $ 16.4 – more expensive than $ 14.2 than China, or $ 13.2 than Bangladesh or $ 12 from Vietnam.

Even if the duties are up to 25 %, India will be less competitive than its Asian peers.

To reduce the strike, the government announced some measures – suspending import duties on raw materials, for example. Commercial talks with other countries also gathered momentum to diversify the markets. But a lot of fear that this is very few, very late.

“We can expect to transfer trade, as American buyers move to Mexico, Vietnam and Bangladesh,” said Aji Srivastava of the World Trade Research Initiative.

About 1,200 km (745 miles), in a Mumbai export area, hundreds of workers are busy polishing diamonds and packing, which is part of the Jeun trade in India worth $ 10 billion in India.

But jewelry brands here feel tension about the potential impact of definitions on their sales during the months of September and October – when $ 3-4 billion dollars of jewelry is shipped to the United States.

While the new commercial partnerships of India with the United Kingdom and Australia have opened opportunities, years of effort to build a presence in the United States can be retracted for months, Adel Kutwal is afraid of creation jewelry, which sells 90 % of his diamond jewels in the United States.

It works on thin margins of 3-4 %, so it is difficult to maintain an additional tariff rate by 10 %. “Who can accommodate these definitions? Even American retailers will not be able to do so [do so]Cotawal told the BBC.

Kotawal Husaya sources from the city of Soor in the neighboring state of Gojarat. In Surat, the center of cutting and polishing in the world, it was a brewing crisis A long time before the tariffs Because of the low global demand and competition from the laboratory implanted diamonds.

Now the definitions are a double noise.

American clients and factories that have maintained nearly five million livelihoods have disappeared now for 15 days every month. Hundreds of contracts were sent on vacation indefinitely.

Inside the diamond polishing unit is dims on the outskirts of the city, rows of dusty tables that are not used in silence. Near -placed, the liar of broken central treatment units scattered.

“This place was noisy,” says worker. “Many people have been expelled recently. We don’t know what will happen to us.”

Shalysh Mangukia, who built the unit, says he once works 300 workers. Now only 70. The number of polished diamonds decreased every month from 2000 to 300 barely.

Local union leaders such as Bhavesh Tank say that the workers here are “low wages, forced leave and reducing monthly income.”

Meanwhile, many shrimp farmers in India are considering turning into other products to survive. India is one of the largest shrimp exporters in the world – and the United States is a main market.

In addition to other duties, the total customs tariffs on shrimp rises more than 60 % – a body blow to the sector as prices have decreased by 0.60-0.72 dollars per kilo since the customs tariff was announced for the first time and is expected to decrease more as soon as the average of 50 % will come into effect.

“This is the peak season for us for buyers who are preparing for Christmas and New Year sales. Farmers here are just starting their new cultivation cycle. Trump’s tariff caused great confusion. We are unable to make any decisions,” said Tota Gagadish, a BBC source.

Franks operators say they greatly reduced the production of shrimp larvae as a result.

“In the past, we produced 100 million shrimp larvae annually. Now, we have not even reached 60 to 70 million,” said Ms. Pharma of SRIMANNAYAAATHERISEIS in Veeravasaram.

All of this can affect the livelihoods of half a million direct shrimp farmers and 2.5 million people indirectly, according to estimates.

In a country that is already reeling from a long crisis of creating job opportunities, these are disturbing characters.

At the present time, the impasse between India and the United States continues. If anything, the environment for more commercial negotiations has deteriorated significantly in the weeks that passed.

It was reported that the last round of the commercial talks that were appointed in Delhi this week were canceled, and US officials have doubled their criticism of India, accusing it of “comfort” to Beijing and being a “washbasin” of Russia.

“The future of India-United States talks is now highly dependent on the priorities of the local Trump administration, as well as those involved in Russia and China, among other things,” Jobal Nador of the Asia Group’s consulting company told the BBC.

“For both policymakers in India and business leaders, Mantra will need to be: increased self -reliance, diversification, and leave no stone without change.”

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