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India, US to hold key trade forum talks early next yr.
Oct 28, 2022

India and the United States (US) have decided to reschedule the 13th Trade Policy Forum (TPF) ministerial meeting tentatively slated for November 8 in Washington DC for the first quarter of next year, with both countries entering a busy domestic political cycle, people familiar with the development said.
 
India and the United States (US) have decided to reschedule the 13th Trade Policy Forum (TPF) ministerial meeting tentatively slated for November 8 in Washington DC for the first quarter of next year, with both countries entering a busy domestic political cycle, people familiar with the development said.
 
Minister for industry and commerce Piyush Goyal was expected to travel to Washington DC to participate in the primary bilateral mechanism on trade with his counterpart, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
 
But while the ministerial has been rescheduled, there have been a range of engagements in the domains of trade, commerce and technology between the two countries in recent weeks, and these will continue.
 
In September, during his visit to Los Angeles for the first Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) ministerial, Goyal said that the two countries will hold the next TPF soon and officials had been tasked to come up with 'more deliverables and newer areas of engagement'.
 
While the dates had not been officially announced by either side, the forum was widely expected to be held in November. The Hindu reported that talks were tentatively scheduled for November 8.
 
It is understood that the busy political cycle was a key factor in rescheduling talks. The US has critical midterm elections on November 8 and India is heading for two state elections and the winter session of Parliament in December. Having TPF early next year will lend more political clarity, especially on the American side, and help lead to more substantive outcomes building on both the current momentum in ties and meet expectations set by progress in the last TPF, said people familiar with the development. This will also give the two countries time to engage with domestic stakeholders and implement existing commitments.
 
India and the US don’t have a free trade pact. With the US domestic political environment marked by anti-trade mood, and the administration focused on what it calls a 'worker-centric' trade policy, Washington DC has displayed little appetite for free trade negotiations that involves market access, even as New Delhi has been more open than the past on trade issues as seen in a spate of recent free trade pacts. Negotiations with the US, unlike with the UK, are about a set of specific issues rather than an umbrella pact.
 
Over the years, India and the US have been engaged in discussions on a range of issues spanning the domains of agriculture and market access, digital and data localisation, intellectual property, medical devices and pharma, testing requirements, services, social security totalisation (which deals with contributions made by temporary Indian workers in the US of which they get no corresponding benefits), labour and environment. Resolving the differences on totalisation is a key Indian priority.
 
But this has also been a period which has witnessed rapid progress in trade ties and engagement.
 
Goyal hosted the 12th TPF in New Delhi in November 2021, reviving the mechanism after a gap of four years. The two countries had then achieved a minor breakthrough: the US allowed the import of mangoes and pomegranates from India, and India allowed the import of cherries and alfalfa hay – and subsequently pork – from the US. They also issued a detailed joint statement laying out a pathway to resolve issues for the future.
 
2021 was also a record trade year, with India-US trade in goods and services hitting the mark of $160 billion. Despite the Donald Trump administration’s withdrawal of generalised system of preferences (GSP) benefits to India in June 2019, India’s exports have grown as different sectors have tapped additional markets in the US.
 
There has also been constant political engagement between the two sides. Minister Goyal met Tai on the sidelines of the G20 ministerial in Bali in the third week of September. In early September, he met Tai and commerce secretary Gina Raimondo in Los Angeles. Tai was also the chief guest at the Independence Day celebrations at India House on August 15 this year where she discussed her exchanges with Goyal; this was possibly the first time a cabinet member attended an Indian Independence Day event at the residence of the ambassador.
 
India, in LA, joined three pillars of the US-led IPEF, deepening partnership on supply chains, energy and decarbonisation and anti-corruption and taxation. It stayed out of the trade pillar but has expressed its openness to joining it in the future.
 
In the next few weeks, senior officials of the department of commerce are expected to visit India. US treasury secretary Janet Yellen will make her first official visit to Delhi for a bilateral economic meeting in November, and Raimondo is expected to travel early next year for the commercial dialogue and CEO forum.
 
In the domain of digital and tech, the two sides are meeting under the Quad umbrella on 5G and ORAN. India will participate in the counter-ransomware conference hosted by the US. And there is going to be substantial Indian and American official presence at the Carnegie Global Tech Summit in New Delhi, co-organised by the ministry of external affairs at the end of November.
    
hindustantimes.com

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