Calls for Trump to push Modi

Leading US congressmen have called on President Donald Trump to press Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove barriers to US trade and investment when they meet for the first time on Monday.

Leading US congressmen have called on President Donald Trump to press Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove barriers to US trade and investment when they meet for the first time on Monday.

The legislators, from the Republican and Democratic parties, said in a letter to Trump that high-level engagement with India had failed to eliminate major trade and investment barriers and had not deterred India from imposing new ones.

“Many sectors of the Indian economy remain highly and unjustifiably protected and India continues to be a difficult place for US companies to do business,” they wrote, noting that a 2017 World Bank report ranked India 130th out of 190 countries for ease of doing business.

The legislators — Republican House ways and means committee chairman Kevin Brady, ranking member Richard Neal and Republican Senate finance committee chairman Orrin Hatch and ranking member Ron Wyden — said the bilateral relationship “severely underperforms” as a result of India’s failure to enact reforms. They said the barriers covered multiple sectors and included high tariffs, inadequate protection of intellectual property rights and inconsistent licensing and regulatory practices. Among US goods affected were solar and information technology products, telecommunications equipment and biotechnology products, they said.