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India has proposed additional customs duties of 15 per cent on the import of 22 products, including whiskey, cheese and diesel engine parts, from the UK in retaliation to Britain's decision to impose restrictions on steel products. In a communication to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India said it is estimated that the safeguard measures taken by the UK on steel products have resulted in the decline of exports to the tune of 2,19,000 tonnes on which the duty collection would be $247.7 million. Accordingly, it said India's proposed suspension of concessions would result in an equivalent amount of duty collected from products originating in the UK.

India hereby notifies the (WTO's) Council for Trade in Goods of its decision to suspend concessions or other obligations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards that are substantially equivalent to the amount of trade affected by the measures of the UK. The other products include processed cheese, scotch, blended whiskey, gin, animal feed, liquified propane, some essential oils, beauty preparations, cosmetic and toilet preparations, unsorted diamonds, silver, platinum, semi-diesel engine parts, unwrought gold, turbo jets, and certain electric conductors. India's average imports of semi-manufactured silver from the UK stood at $412.68 million. The figure stood at $ 275.22 million for certain silver goods and $ 51.03 million for blended whiskey.

The communication also said that the proposed suspension of concessions would be in the form of an increase in duty on the selected products originating in the UK. The suspension of concessions and other obligations will continue to apply until the safeguard measures of the UK are lifted. India wishes to clarify that suspension of concessions will be equivalent to the amount of trade affected by the UKs' measures. The measures imposed by the UK consist of tariff-rate quotas imposed on 15 steel product categories with an out-of-quota duty of 25 per cent.