Mutual benefit: On India-U.S. cooperation on trade

Source– The post is based on the article “Mutual benefit: On India-U.S. cooperation on trade” published in The Hindu on 15th November 2022.

Syllabus: GS2- International relations

Relevance: India-US relations

News- The article explains the Indo-US trade and economic ties.

Why does the US and India want strong trade and economic ties?

The US and India both have shared interest in strengthening the global supply chain. Trade has been used as a geopolitical weapon by some states.

There has been dominance of some states in the supply chain of certain products. For example, China is dominating solar panel.

What are challenges in Indo-US trade ties?

The Trump administration decided to withdraw duty-free access to Indian exporters under the Generalised System of Preferences. The U.S. is still to reinstate the GSP benefit and exporters on both sides still face challenges.

The International Trade Administration of the U.S. notes in its investment climate summary on India that new protectionist measures restricted the expansion in bilateral trade and investment. These measures include strict enforcement and potential expansion of data localisation measures, increased tariffs and Indian-specific standards not aligned with international standards.

The US decided to put India back on the US treasury “monitoring list” over its currency practices in 2020.