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‘India, US need to focus on something ‘bigger’ as they talk trade’, says Jaishankar
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is in London, also appealed to India to do more against China. “India has a chance to take global supply chains away from China and reduce its reliance on Chinese companies in areas of telecommunications, medial supplies and others”
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday stressed the need for India and the United States to strive for something “bigger” even as they seek to resolve their trade differences.
While resolving these “pending problems”, the minister said, referring to trade issues, is important and central to the relationship, “but beyond trade there is a much bigger connect between our two countries … a sort of knowledge innovation.
Working together in their sphere, he added, “is what will set our relationship apart”.
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The minister was participating virtually in the annual summit of the US-India business Council (USIBC, a trade body).
Commerce minister Piyush Goyal has said, at the same forum Tuesday, that India and the United States were just some phone “calls” away from wrapping up a limited trade deal. And he had had gone on to propose a “preferential trade agreement” as the next stage, as the two sides got down to working on a larger and more robust and enduring Free Trade Agreement.
Jaishankar’s session partner on Wednesday was Mark Warner, the Democratic senator who is co-chair of the Senate India caucus, who forcefully proposed India joins the United States to form the core of the “Alliance of the Willing”, a loose coalition of nations to confront China’s predatory use of technology to dominate the world.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is in London, also appealed to India to do more against China. “India has a chance to take global supply chains away from China and reduce its reliance on Chinese companies in areas of telecommunications, medial supplies and others”
“India is in this positions because it has earned the trust of many nations around the world, including, the United States,” he added.
The secretary of state, who has spearheaded the Trump administration’s sharpening attacks on China, reiterated US backing for India’s ban on 56 Chinese apps, including TikTok, and conveyed his condolences once agains for the death of Indian soldiers in the Galwan clashes, for which the US had held Beijing responsible.
