New Delhi: Forty four members of the US Congress have urged President Donald Trump to restore trade concessions to India. They said the withdrawal of the privilege had led to retaliatory tariffs from New Delhi which was hurting US industry.
In June, the United States ended its preferential trade treatment for India, removing it from the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme that allowed duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its annual exports to the United States. The elimination of GSP brought higher retaliatory tariffs from India on 28 US products including almonds, apples and walnuts.
In the letter dated September 17 addressed to United State Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the members of Congress said: “Just as US industries are harmed by lack of fair and reciprocal access to India’s market, American companies and workers also are harmed by new tariffs due to the GSP termination.”
A lot of American jobs depend on the trade between India and the United States, the US lawmakers said in the letter seen by this agency. It is important to note that the letter comes days ahead of a meeting between Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The two sides had resumed trade talks after Trump and Modi met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in June and agreed to seek to deepen the two countries’ relationship.
Other than seeking the rollback of Indian tariffs imposed on agricultural products like almonds and apples, Washington has also expressed its concerns over India’s tightening of regulations that have undermined major US e-commerce companies like Walmart’s (WMT.N) Flipkart and Amazon (AMZN.O).
India is by far the largest buyer of U.S. almonds, paying $543 million for more than half of US almond exports in 2018, according to US Department of Agriculture. It is the second largest buyer of US apples, taking $156 million worth in 2018.
Donald Trump will travel September 22 to Houston to participate in an event with Narendra Modi and to ‘discuss ways to deepen their energy and trade relationship’.
Narendra Modi will visit Houston to participate in an event called ‘Howdy Modi! Shared Dreams, Bright Futures’, at the NRG Stadium which is expected to draw tens of thousands of people.
Reuters
