Dairy Access May Hamper India-US Trade Talks

Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the country, India-US trade talks are becoming tensed as Washington sought access for its dairy industry without addressing New Delhi’s concerns on the issue, almost ruling out any deal during President Trump’s visit. This tense situation is likely to impact major bilateral trades between the two countries, which also indicates that Trump’s visit to Delhi next week might not be in the cards. As per reports, US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit India on February 24 and 25.

As per sources, the chances of an agreement haven’t increased by the prospect of US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross accompanying Trump, given the differences between the two sides.

In a recent tweet, the US President said, "We're not treated very well by India." But he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he is looking forward to his visit to India.

The chances of a deal have also dimmed following Washington’s recent move to remove India from its list of developing countries exempt from the investigation into whether they harm the US industry with unfairly subsidized exports, said experts.

According to reports, India joins nations such as Brazil, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Africa and Argentina, which no longer get special preferences under the country’s methodology for countervailing duty probes.

The US removed India from the list on account of the country being a G-20 member and having a share of 0.5% or more of world trade.

On the other hand, the US is also unable to yield on India’s demands such as restoration of GSP benefits and allowing access to the country’s market for many agricultural products because of political considerations due to the upcoming presidential elections in November. GSP is the Generalized System of Preferences that eliminates duties in order to promote economic development.