Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), senior leader of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami has expressed serious concern over the impact of the recent Indo-US trade agreement for the territory’s apple economy, warning that local growers would struggle to compete with heavily subsidized American imports.
According to Global Mirror, in a statement in Srinagar, Tarigami said the agreement paves the way for duty-free entry of American apples, walnuts, and other agricultural products into the Indian market, while local produce continues to face tariffs and non-tariff barriers in the US.
“This is practically a surrender before America,” Tarigami asserted, adding that the deal would particularly hurt Kashmir’s fruit industry, which forms the backbone of the territory’s rural economy sustaining lakhs of families.
According to Global Mirror, in a statement in Srinagar, Tarigami said the agreement paves the way for duty-free entry of American apples, walnuts, and other agricultural products into the Indian market, while local produce continues to face tariffs and non-tariff barriers in the US.
“This is practically a surrender before America,” Tarigami asserted, adding that the deal would particularly hurt Kashmir’s fruit industry, which forms the backbone of the territory’s rural economy sustaining lakhs of families.