Mumbai, June 3 -- Pankaj Chadha, Chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), on Wednesday sharply criticised the United States Trade Representative (USTR) report on India, calling Washington's latest tariff offensive a deliberate negotiating ploy timed to pressure New Delhi ahead of ongoing Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) talks.

Responding to the USTR report, Chadha expressed confidence that it would not withstand legal scrutiny.

"The Supreme Court has already declared it illegal. It will go to the Court of Appeal and then back to the Supreme Court, where it will be declared illegal again," he said, dismissing the report as legally untenable.

Chadha questioned the very premise of the proposed trade deal under current c...