WASHINGTON: Free Trade Agreement Is The Next Frontier In India-US Ties: Top Advocacy Group

WASHINGTON: A Free Trade Agreement is the
next frontier in the India-US relationship, the head of a top India-centric
business advocacy group has said, stressing that it is not tenable for the two largest
economies of the world to not have a trade architecture in place between them,
though its path is riddled with “all kinds of obstacles”.

Nisha
Desai Biswal, president of US-India Business Council and a former US diplomat,
was speaking at a dinner hosted by Indiaspora.

“The
time has come for us to get serious about where the next frontier is in US
India ties. And neither for the United States, nor for India, is it tenable for
two of the largest economies in the world to be outside of the TPP (Trans-Pacific
Partnership) and to not have a trade architecture in place between the two of
them,” Nisha Desai Biswal, president of US India Business Council said.

“We
are starting to see real signals of interest from India to be able to explore
that. So, I think the time has come to get serious. It’s not easy. It’s a path
riddled with all kinds of obstacles,” she said.

“I’ve
heard it described to me that trade negotiations are a knife fight in a dark
alley. It’s time for us to put down the knives, turn on the light, get down to
business,” she said in a lighter vein as she urged the powerful group of
Indian Americans to engage the two governments on the issue.

Commerce
and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, while addressing the 4th Annual Leadership
Summit of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) on Wednesday, said
that India and the US should engage in a much bigger way and New Delhi is ready
and willing to expand the economic partnership with America.

He also
called for setting an ambitious bilateral trade target of USD 1 trillion in the
next 10 years.

On August
19, he said that hopes of an India-US trade pact are off the table for now,
with the Biden administration conveying to India that it is not interested in a
free trade agreement.

According
to the data of the commerce ministry, in 2020-21, the trade between the US and
India dropped to USD 80.5 billion as compared to USD 88.9 billion in 2019-20.

India’s
exports to the US are growing rapidly and withdrawal of export incentives by
the US under GSP (Generalised System of Preferences) has not impacted the
country’s outbound shipments to America.

India is
seeking exemption from high duties imposed by the US on some steel and
aluminium products, resumption of export benefits to certain domestic products
under the GSP, and greater market access for its products from sectors such as
agriculture, automobile, automobile components and engineering.

On the
other hand, the US wants greater market access for its farm and manufacturing
products, dairy items and medical devices, apart from cut in import duties on
some information and communication technology products.

In her
brief remarks on the occasion, Neera Tanden, senior advisor to President Joe
Biden, said it is critical to have Indian-Americans at the table, contributing,
involved and engaged in helping make decisions.

“Because
as many have said before now, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.
So that is why your voices are so important. Why is it that your engagement is
so important, why is your role here in everything you do is so
important?,” she said.

Former US
Ambassador to India, Richard Verma, said the recent successful visit of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi shows the new chapter in this important bilateral
relationship.

“We
can’t just let it coast. We’ve got to all now work on it. The president gave us
the roadmap to follow in trade and health and climate and security and, and so
much more. I’m actually pretty excited about the bilateral ties and even
broader on Quadrilateral ties as well,” he said.

Indian-American
congressmen Raja Krishnamoorthi and Dr Ami Bera also spoke on the occasion.