Shimla: CPM protests India-US trade deal, asks Centre to make details public

The Shimla district unit of the CPM staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office against the US-India trade agreement here today and asked the Central Government to make its full details public.

Sanjay Chauhan, state secretary of the CPM, while addressing the protesters, termed the trade deal as an attack on India’s sovereignty. He said, “Despite knowing that the tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump was declared illegal by the US Supreme Court, the BJP-led Central Government has granted wide-ranging concessions to the US under a so-called ‘interim agreement’. These concessions pose a serious threat to India’s economy, agriculture and national sovereignty.”

“If partial information available in the public domain is to be believed, the Centre has agreed to impose zero tariffs on imports of fruits, cotton, nuts, soybean oil and certain other food and agricultural products from the US. This decision is very concerning as it will severely affect the livelihoods of lakhs of apple growers, cotton farmers and soybean cultivators across the country,” he said.

Chauhan said that apple orchardists in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and other states were already suffering due to the earlier trade agreements with countries such as New Zealand and the current agreement with the US would further damage their livelihoods.

Chauhan claimed that the US was attempting to influence India’s policy decisions, including oil purchases from Russia. “The Central Government should refrain from signing any agreement that is detrimental to the interests of the farmers, workers and the people of the country. The centre should immediately abandon such policies designed to make India a ‘junior partner’ of the US,” he added.