United States, Korea, And China Express Concerns About India’s Laptop Import Restrictions

An official from the United States, China, Korea, and Taiwan expressed concern about India’s decision to impose import restrictions on laptops, and computers during a World Trade Organisation (WTO) conference.

The issue was raised at a meeting of WTO’s Committee on Market Access. On October 16, it was presided over by Renata Crisaldo of Paraguay in Geneva.

According to the Geneva-based official, the US has stated that once implemented, the decision will have an impact on the trade of these products, including US exports to India.

The United States has also stated that the ruling creates uncertainty for exporters and downstream customers.

On August 3, India imposed import restrictions on a wide range of IT hardware products such as laptops, personal computers (including tablet computers), microcomputers, large or mainframe computers, and certain data processing machines, in an effort to boost domestic manufacturing while reducing imports from countries like China.

On November 1st, the regime would go into effect.

Sunil Barthwal, the secretary of Commerce, stated last week that India will just monitor import cargoes and will not require licenses for imports.

The official emphasized that Korea felt strongly that India’s proposed actions appeared to violate WTO regulations and would as a result lead to unnecessary creation of trade barriers.

In addition to requesting specific explanations and information on this matter, including a schedule for its implementation, Seoul asked India to reconsider the execution of these measures.

Every year, India imports approximately USD 7-8 billion in these commodities.

In 2022-23, the country imported personal computers, including laptops, worth USD 5.33 billion, compared to USD 7.37 billion in 2021-22.

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