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Prospects of a US-India trade agreement are off the table for now, with the United States conveying to India that it is not interested in a ‘limited’ trade deal that was negotiated for months under the Donald Trump administration, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal told a meeting with Export Promotion Councils, Commodity Boards and other stakeholders in Mumbai yesterday.
India has started working on a free trade agreement (FTA) with Bangladesh and is close to sealing an early harvest deal with Australia ‘which has almost agreed’ on the matter, with a similar deal being worked out with the United Kingdom as well, the minister said.
“The USA has kind of indicated that they are not looking for new trade agreements, but we will look at working with them on market access issues on both sides,” Goyal was quoted as saying in an official release.
Resolving issues like non-tariff barriers, entering mutual recognition agreements and aligning on higher quality international standards, will help spur trade between the two countries, the minister said.
“Australia is first on the list, UK, then the UAE [United Arab Emirates], and if the UAE happens, the pact with GCC [Gulf Coordination Council] will also be expedited. We have already started the dialogue with the UAE and one more country from the Middle East,” he said Goyal on the FTAs currently on the government’s priority list, which also includes Israel.
While talks with Canada got waylaid amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministers said the dialogue is expected to pick after Canadian elections conclude in the next few months. The European Union (EU), he said, had agreed to restart renegotiations after abandoning earlier talks in 2013. However, given that there are 27 countries involved, he said one shouldn’t expect a pact to happen ‘very quickly’.
Assuring the industry that the government won’t repeat ‘mistakes of some past FTAs’ and reminding them about the government’s ‘unexpected’ decision to walk out of the RCEP based on their feedback along with that from farmers and the people at large, Goyal also urged exporters to appreciate that FTAs cannot be a ‘one-way traffic’.
“We also have to open our markets to others if we are wanting a larger pie in their markets. Therefore, my appeal to all of you is to also identify areas where we have confidence that we can withstand competition,” he said.
“If we make the decisions without your concurrence, that is also harmful… On our engagement with other countries on FTAs, we will be very sensitive to your demands, but you should also be sensitive that trade is a two-way affair,” he added.
Meanwhile, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) chairman A Sakthivel reacted to Goyal’s statement FTAs will remove tariff disadvantages faced by Indian apparels in many markets and early harvest agreements with the United Kingdom and Australia can help triple Indian apparel exports to these markets in the next three years.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Prospects of a US-India trade pact are off the table for now, with the US conveying to India that it is not interested in a 'limited' trade deal that was negotiated under the Donald Trump administration, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal told a meeting with Export Promotion Councils, Commodity Boards and other stakeholders in Mumbai yesterday.