accessBy Lalit K JhaWashington, Oct 25 (PTI) Ahead of the India-US TradePolicy Forum meeting, an influential business advocacy grouptoday asked the Trump Administration to press India to addressissues that limit market access or undermine thecompetitiveness of US industries.
In a letter to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer,the Alliance for Fair Trade with India (AFTI) expressedconcerns that "India is failing to provide adequate andeffective protection of intellectual property (IP) rights andfair access to its markets."India maintains and continues to propose significant IPand market access barriers, said the letter signed by BrianPomper, AFTI executive director.
Specifically, the letter cites price controls, forcedlocalisation, technical barriers to trade and intellectualproperty barriers as the issues of significant concern that USindustries face in India.
"This week's Trade Policy Forum and Commercial Dialoguecreate opportunities to strengthen the bilateral US-Indiatrade relationship and break down market barriers in India toboost FDI, innovation and market access and boostmanufacturing jobs in both countries," said Linda Dempsey,vice president for International Economic Affairs at theNational Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
"Manufacturers, however, want to see fair access to thatmarket, and efforts to address priority issues such as pricecontrols on innovative medical devices, continued challengesin protecting innovation and IP, forced localisation policiesin high-value, innovative industries, and other barriers,"Dempsey said.
The letter urges Lighthizer to make use of all bilateraldialogue and trade tools available to improve the US-Indiacommercial relationship and implement concrete, tangibleprogress to address issues in India that limit market accessor undermine the competitiveness of US industries.
"The innovation industry is encouraged by the governmentof IndiaÂ’s positive action on software patentability andintellectual property rights awareness, as well as its pursuitof much-needed procedural reforms," said Patrick Kilbride,vice president of International Intellectual Property for theUS Chamber of CommerceÂ’s Global Intellectual Property Center(GIPC).
"However, growing price controls on innovative US medicaldevices will not only limit quality and consumer choice, butthey also pose a formidable barrier to entry for innovativeproducts, in turn hurting bilateral trade ties," he warned.
PTI LKJNSA.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.