India slaps tariffs on 29 US items; new rates to kick in from August 4 The latest list of tariff hikes has 18 iron and steel items, a potent political reply against Trump's tariff hikes in the sector. After a week of speculations, India on Thursday finally imposed higher tariff rates on 29 import items from the United States (US) but announced that new rates would kick in from August 4. India had last week notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) of its decision to impose ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on American products. The move comes after New Delhi got a cold shoulder from Washington DC on its request for exempting India from the higher tariffs announced by the US on steel and aluminium imports. The government has not officially clarified why it chose to impose the new rates — which have been doubled for some items — from a later date instead of June 21, as had been widely expected. But senior officials in the commerce department suggested that it may have been done to p