Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said the proposed India-US free trade agreement would protect the sensitive interests of Indian farmers and other stakeholders, asserting that its terms would put India at a “very strong comparative advantage” once they are made public, reported ANI.
Speaking at the ISID-IDRA Fourth National Conference, Goyal said the agreement would not compromise the interests of farmers and expressed confidence that it would be welcomed by the public.
“US free trade deal, once details are out, the people of India will celebrate that not a single sensitive interest of our farmers or any stakeholder has been compromised. On the contrary, India will stand at a very strong comparative advantage,” Goyal said, according to ANI.
The minister also defended India's existing free trade agreements (FTAs), saying none of the deals signed so far had faced substantive criticism or had any identified flaws.
Goyal said developed countries had traditionally maintained high tariffs on labour-intensive products as a negotiating tool, creating barriers for Indian exports. He said India had overcome such barriers through trade agreements covering 38 developed countries.
“Every one of the agreement, the nine free trade deals and bilateral trade deals that we have entered into, cover 38 developed, relatively much more prosperous countries than us, and therefore they are not in competition with us...we complement each other,” he said, as quoted by ANI.
Goyal said India had secured preferential market access to economies with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $60 trillion through nine trade agreements. In comparison, agreements signed before 2014 covered economies with a combined GDP of $10 trillion, he said.
“We have unlocked market opportunity at preferential rates in economies aggregating USD 60 trillion; out of these nine agreements...all the agreements prior to 2014 only covered USD 10 trillion because they were largely with countries who are in competition with us,” he added.
Referring to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Goyal said the trade bloc comprises 15 countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the 10 ASEAN member states.
He said India was not part of the negotiations when the RCEP was launched and noted that the country had been at an advanced stage of negotiations with Australia at the time.
“ We were at an active stage of negotiation with Australia and could have finished it easily. It was not a difficult agreement. We had hardly any business at that time with New Zealand. Our total bilateral trade, bilateral, was USD 350 million with New Zealand. Only China was left,” he said.
(With inputs from ANI)