Trade pact differences with US broadly resolved: Goyal
TRADE DEAL Goyal also suggested that there could be an announcement soon
NEWDELHI: Trade minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday that the broad outline of a trade deal with the US has been worked out and suggested there could be an announcement soon.
The two countries have been locked in trade disputes for months, slapping higher tariffs on each other’s products and the US withdrawing a key concession to India.
The collateral damage of the US’ trade wars is being felt around the world as President Donald Trump renegotiates relationships with many of Washington’s top trading partners.
Washington has been concerned about Indian policies that mandate foreign firms to store more data locally and restrict the way US e-commerce giants such as Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon.com operate.
Goyal told a business conference that he was hoping to meet US trade representative Robert Lighthizer soon.
“We have almost resolved the broad contours of what we are going to announce. I don’t see any great difficulty in closing the gap on the first announcement,” Goyal said at the Us-india Strat e g i c Part ner s hi p Forum (USISPF).
The deal under discussion includes lowering tariffs on US farm produce while giving Indian pharmaceuticals faster approval to enter the US market.
India dominates the world’s generic drugs market and the US is among its top importers.
“With regards to the trade talks between India and the US, commerce and industry minister said that things are on the right track and India is looking to the US for technology, innovation, skills and quality education,” a government statement quoted Goyal as saying.
According to USISPF estimates, India-us bilateral trade is projected to grow to $238 billon by 2025 from $142.1 billion in 2018.
US trade and investments are expected to grow in sectors such as defence, commercial airc r a f t s , o i l a nd LNG, c o a l , machinery and electronics.
India is aiming to promote automotive, pharmaceuticals, seafood, IT and travel services to the US market.
Goyal said India and the US must look at a larger trade agreement, the government statement said. It did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said India’s energy trade with the US is likely to jump by over 40% to $10 billion in FY20, as the world’s thirdlargest oil consumer seeks to move away from its traditional suppliers in the Middle East.
“In 2018-19, total import of crude oil, LNG and cooking coal stood at $7.2 billion. In the current fiscal year 2019-20, this may go up to $10 billion,” Pradhan said at the event held in New Delhi.
In a short period, the US has become one of the top 10 sources of crude oil for India and also an important source for LNG. For the US, India is now the fourthlargest importer of crude oil and the third-largest for LNG.
“Indian companies already invested in oil and gas assets in the US, and I see a growing interest among our companies to invest in gas assets in the US. In f act, t he energy pi l l ar has become an important component of the bilateral strategic partnership,” he said.
While India sources about 65% of its crude oil needs from the Middle East region, imports from the US have doubled to over 13 million tonnes this year.
Pradhan said the rising US shale oil and gas production has had a calming effect on global energy prices.