US becomes India’s top trading partner
THE US PIPPED CHINA TO BECOME INDIA’S TOP TRADING PARTNER WITH $87.95 BN BILATERAL TRADE IN 2018-19
NEWDELHI: The US has surpassed China to become India’s top trading partner, showing greater economic ties between the two countries.
According to the data of the commerce ministry, in 2018-19, the bilateral trade between the US and India stood at $87.95 billion.
During the period, India’s twoway commerce with China aggregated at $87.07 billion.
Similarly, during April-December 2019-20, the bilateral trade between the US and India stood at $68 billion. It stood at $64.96 billion with China in the same period.
Trade experts believe that the trend will continue in the coming years also as New Delhi and
Washington are engaged in further deepening the economic ties.
An expert said that if the countries will finalise a free trade agreement (FTA), then the bilateral trade would reach at different levels.
“FTA with US will be very beneficial for India as the US is the biggest market for domestic goods and services,” Federation of Indian Export Organisations director general Ajay Sahai said.
He said that India’s exports as well as imports are increasing with the US, while with China both are declining.
America is one of the few countries with which India has a trade surplus. On the other hand, India has a huge trade deficit with China.
In 2018-19, India has a trade surplus of $16.85 billion with America, while it has a deficit of $53.56 billion with the neighbouring country.
The data showed that China was India’s top trading partner since 2013-14 till 2017-18. Before China, the UAE was the country’s largest trading nation.
A top American business advocacy group has said that a free trade agreement between India and the US is a key to resolving their trade disputes as it will cover biggest irritants in ties, including tariffs and mobility of Indian professionals.
Professor at Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade (IIFT) Rakesh Mohan Joshi said that India should be a bit cautious while negotiating a trade pact with the US in areas, including agriculture and food products, as America is the world’s largest producer and exporter of certain commodities like maize and soybean.
“A trade deal between the US and India would further increase the trade between the two countries easing tariff restriction and opening up of bigger market for products,” Joshi added.
“Steel exports to the US have continued to decline and it went down from $372 million in 2017-18 to $247 million last year. This is only 2.5% of our overall $9.74 billion steel export to the world,” Pawan Gupta, the founder and chief executive of online trade platform Connect2India observed.