NEW DELHI: The United States appeared to blame the Make in India push by India as the main reason why there is a delay in a trade deal between the two countries. There was much speculation that a deal would be signed when US President Donald Trump visits India on February 24-25 but the prospects appear to be negligible now.
“Trade talks will continue, but new Indian tariff proposals aimed at strengthening the country's Make in India domestic manufacturing push have made them more difficult,” a senior White House administration official said in Washington on Friday.
The official said US concerns which led to Washington suspending tariff-free access to exports worth $5.6 billion under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) still exist.
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“We will be discussing those concerns and what we see an increase in barriers not a decrease. This will certainly come up among the leaders. We do want to make sure that we get this balance right. We want to address a lot of concerns and we’re not quite there yet,” the official said.
The expectations of even a mini-trade deal faded after it was announced that US Trade Representative Robert Lightizer would not be a part of the 12-member delegation accompanying the US President.
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ACCORDING to Indo-US trade experts, Trump’s visit comes at time when ties saw some friction due to India’s purchase of a Russian missile system. “Even the announcements on new import tariffs on medical devices, walnuts, toys and electronics did not go down well with Washington. The move was aimed to reduce imports from China but did not augur well with the US,” said a researcher at the Indian Council for World Affairs.
“The Make in India push of the Indian government, as I noted, has made the protectionism concerns even more of a concern to us. We have seen India’s budget process recently used to raise tariffs on products of interest in the United States. We continue to see important divergences on e-commerce and digital trade. So it’s a pretty wide scope, frankly, of important service and goods access barriers that we need to address,” he said.