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Ready to consider India’s concerns over key business issues: USTR Tai
The joint statement was issued late Friday night after the TPF meeting co-chaired by commerce minister Piyush Goyal and US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai, who is on a three-day India visit.
Washington is willing to consider New Delhi’s key concerns such as restoration of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), giving Trade Agreements Act (TAA)-designated country status, easier visa rules for professionals, resolution of social security issues and allowing exports of Indian marine products, agricultural items, medicines and medical devices, under the principle of equity and reciprocity, according to a joint statement issued by the two partners after the 14th Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meeting in New Delhi on Friday.
India agreed to reciprocate by considering the American demand of strengthening the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime, easing tariff and non-tariff barriers on agriculture and industrial products, including IT hardware, computers, laptops and servers. Both partners reiterated their commitment to ensuring that technical regulations such as Quality Control Orders (QCOs) do not create unnecessary barriers to trade.
India recently issued hundreds of QCOs and lined up stringent quality norms for over 250 more items this year including electric fans, freezers, aluminium cans and plywood. QCOs are non-discriminatory and a World Trade Organisation (WTO)-compliant mechanism that allows a country to make compliance with its standards compulsory for selling specified goods in its market to protect of human, animal or plant health, prevention of unfair trade practices and national security.
The joint statement was issued late Friday night after the TPF meeting co-chaired by commerce minister Piyush Goyal and US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai, who is on a three-day India visit.
“The ministers underlined the significance of the TPF in forging robust bilateral trade ties and in enhancing the overall economic relationship. They welcomed the strong momentum in India-US bilateral trade in goods and services, which continued to rise and likely surpassed $200 billion in calendar year 2023 despite a challenging global trade environment,” the statement said. According to USTR’s website, the bilateral trade between the two partners totalled an estimated $191.8 billion in 2022.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar also met US trade representative Katherine Tai on Friday and discussed progress in two-way trade and the global economy. “Delighted to meet USTR @AmbassadorTai today in Delhi. Appreciate the tremendous progress in our bilateral trade in recent years,” Jaishankar said in a post on X. “Also value @USTradeRep’s perspective on challenges to the international economy,” he said.
Goyal and Tai welcomed the finalisation of the Turtle Excluder Device (TED) design. India is now fully equipped with the latest technology to fish without harming turtles, one of the key concerns of the US in marine imports from India.
To boost medicine trade, New Delhi emphasised the need to increase the number of inspections by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in India to reduce the backlog. In order to ensure access to affordable medical devices to patients the two agreed to the Trade Margin Rationalization (TMR) approach. The US is pushing India for lifting restricting on medical devices, including for cardiac stents and knee implants.
During the meeting Tai raised the issue of India’s new import requirements for computers, tablets, and servers, the statement said. Goyal said India’s objectives involved national security. Tai expressed a willingness to collaborate with India on the shared objective of supply chain resilience in this sector.
Goyal and Tai also acknowledged the role of professional services in catalysing bilateral trade between the two countries and noted that issues related to recognition of professional qualifications and experience can facilitate services trade. In this context, both sides agreed to continue discussions on promoting engagement in these sectors.
“The ministers noted that the movement of professional and skilled workers, students, investors and business visitors between the countries contributes immensely to enhancing the bilateral economic and technological partnership,” the statement said. Goyal raised the challenges being faced by business visitors from India due to visa processing time periods and requested the US to expedite the process.
