Will Modi need to build new road to US after Trump’s exit? No, market potential will drive trade ties

Is the long-awaited India-US mega trade deal, in talks since the Namaste Trump event earlier this year, now hanging mid-air with President Donald Trump losing the re-election bid? This question has been a concern of Indians who witnessed the meeting of President Trump and PM Narendra Modi in February 2020. However, the outcomes of the presidential election will not act as a barrier in Indo-US ties and are believed to further deepen the bilateral relationship. “US-India ties have continued to grow and the bilateral partnership has continued to deepen for the past two decades, under both Democratic and Republican Presidents,” US-India Business Council (USIBC) told Financial Express Online.

“President-elect Biden brings decades of experience advancing US-India ties and played a key role in forging the US-India Strategic Partnership in the Obama Administration,” USIBC added. Under his leadership, we expect to see a continued bipartisan focus on India and a broad-based approach to India and the Indo-Pacific that touches strategic, security, and economic issues, alongside climate, health, education, science and technology,” USIBC further said.

Bilateral relations to be driven by the potential of the market, not by the President’s party

It is expected that the bilateral relations between the two countries will be driven by the potential of the markets and not majorly by who sits on the top position. “While a healthy connection between political leaders is certainly helpful, for making long-term investment decisions American companies rely on the attractiveness and potential of a market,” Mukesh Aghi, CEO & President, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), told Financial Express online.

US investments and FDIs in India have only gone up over the last decade, spanning both Republican and Democratic administrations, the main driver being the strength of the Indian domestic market Mukesh Aghi added. Further reforms undertaken by PM Modi will only yield greater FDI in the country and strengthen the commercial partnership between the two countries, he further said.

Meanwhile, in June earlier this year, news floated that the US is mulling over restoring India’s beneficiary status on receiving a counterbalancing proposal from New Delhi. The US had earlier took away GSP status, a trade preference, from India in June 2019, blaming high retaliatory tariff on imports from the US.