{"id":134183,"date":"2021-09-15T19:54:32","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T14:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=134183"},"modified":"2021-09-16T18:24:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T12:54:00","slug":"indias-early-harvest-trade-deals-could-run-into-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-early-harvest-trade-deals-could-run-into-trouble\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s \u2018early harvest\u2019 trade deals could run into trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis<\/strong>: India should be mindful of legal requirements of arriving at an \u201cearly harvest\u201d trade deal before signing a full FTA.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h5>\n

India wishes to fast-track its free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with several countries like the UK, Australia, the European Union, and Canada.<\/p>\n

It is keen to conclude an \u201cearly harvest\u201d trade deal with some of these countries. This marks a departure from the trade protectionism<\/strong> that India has been practising over the past few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Must Read<\/strong>:\u00a0Free Trade Agreements \u2013 Explained<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
How Early Harvest trade deals could run into trouble?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

WTO\u2019s principle of most favoured nation (MFN): <\/strong>An FTA where countries give preferential access to each other\u2019s products at the cost of other countries is inconsistent with the MFN rule.<\/p>\n

Conditions associated with FTAs: <\/strong>FTAs are subjected to certain conditions. For instance, eliminate customs duties and other trade barriers on \u201csubstantially all the trade<\/strong>\u201d between the FTA member countries.<\/p>\n

Although the meaning of \u201csubstantially all the trade\u201d is not given in the agreement, it is evident that the FTA should cover a very high proportion of trade between the FTA member countries.<\/p>\n

Leading to disputes: <\/strong>Any trade deal between WTO member countries that does not cover substantive trade between them will be vulnerable to a legal challenge at the WTO\u2019s dispute settlement mechanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Early Harvest deal<\/strong>: An early harvest deal is a precursor to an FTA, in which the trading partners reduce tariff barriers on limited goods to promote trade.<\/p>\n

Most Favoured Nation<\/strong> is a treatment accorded to a trade partner to ensure non-discriminatory trade between two countries vis-a-vis other trade partners. Under WTO rules, a member country cannot discriminate between its trade partners. If a special status is granted to a trade partner, it must be extended to all members of the WTO.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

What can be done to save the \u201cearly harvest\u201d trade deals?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Design and present as<\/strong> \u201cinterim agreements<\/strong>\u201d. GATT allow countries to sign interim agreements subject to certain conditions. Such as, India will have to show that it will not be able to enter into an FTA<\/strong> without the measure at issue, that is, without the \u201cearly harvest\u201d trade deal.<\/p>\n

Schedule for FTA. <\/strong>The interim agreement should include a plan or a schedule for the formation of an FTA within a reasonable period of time. It should be notified to WTO members, who can make recommendations if they believe that the interim agreement is not likely to lead to the formation of an FTA.<\/p>\n

Source<\/strong>: This post is based on the article \u201cIndia\u2019s \u2018early harvest\u2019 trade deals could run into trouble<\/strong>\u201d published in The India Express<\/strong> on 15th<\/sup> September 2021<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Synopsis: India should be mindful of legal requirements of arriving at an \u201cearly harvest\u201d trade deal before signing a full FTA. Introduction India wishes to fast-track its free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with several countries like the UK, Australia, the European Union, and Canada. It is keen to conclude an \u201cearly harvest\u201d trade deal with… Continue reading India\u2019s \u2018early harvest\u2019 trade deals could run into trouble<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10316,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[8963,9757,9223],"class_list":["post-134183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-bilateral-regional-and-global-groupings-and-agreements","tag-early-harvest-trade-deal","tag-free-trade-agreements","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":1700776130,"cached_date":1704741790},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}