New Delhi, June 12 -- The US on Monday told the World Trade Organization that it is "open to discuss" steep import tariffs on Indian automobiles "or any other issue" with India, a marked departure from its earlier stance at WTO when it rejected India's call to discuss its move of imposing 50% tariffs on Indian steel and aluminium. Rejecting India's request for consultations with respect to the tariffs imposed on automobiles and automobile parts, the US in its June 9 communication said that New Delhi's demand is based on the wrong premise that the levies are safeguard measures. It said that the tariffs are imposed by the Trump administration because the imports "threaten to impair the national security" of the US. "Nonetheless, we are open to discuss this or any other issue with India. Any discussions regarding the tariffs would not be under the Agreement on Safeguards and would be without prejudice to our view that the tariffs are not safeguard measures," the US response to India's June 2 communication at WTO added. After the US raised tariff by 25% on imports of passenger vehicles, light trucks and certain automobile parts imported from India, effective from May 3, New Delhi raised the matter through WTO calling the move a safeguard measure of the US to protect its domestic industry from increased imports. "India looks forward to receiving a prompt reply to this request from the United States and to setting a mutually convenient date and venue for the above-mentioned consultations," India said in its June 2 communique. According to an official, in light of the ongoing India-US bilateral trade negotiations, "it is a good sign that the US is now open to discuss trade disputes" so that the two partners can find amicable solution through mutually agreed solutions (MAS) mechanism, as was done for seven other disputes in June and September 2023. Requesting anonymity because of the sensitive nature of trade disputes, he said America's June 9 response on auto tariffs is "friendlier in letter and spirit" than its May 22 communication that was its response to India's similar protest against Washington raising tariffs on steel and aluminium by 50%. In its May 22 communication, the US rejected India's call for discussion and said, "The United States will not discuss the Section 232 tariffs under the Agreement on Safeguards as we do not view the tariffs as a safeguard measure." The Indian notice was against the US' February 10 decision to impose 25% levies on all US imports of steel and aluminium effective from March 12. The matter was further aggravated when the Trump administration on May 30 doubled tariffs on the metals to 50% effective from June 4, citing national security. Against the US measure to hike import duties on steel and aluminium to safeguard American metal industries, India on May 9 formally notified WTO that it could suspend "concessions and other obligations" granted to the US unless Washington "after the expiration of 30 days from the date of this notification" that would be June 8. India has, however, not taken any action against the US even as the June 8 deadline is passed....