US Trade Rep not part of entourage

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 21

With an India-US trade deal off the table, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will not be a part of the Trump entourage, but officials here complained of the US holding India to standards that are not comparable to other countries.

For the second time in recent days, US President Donald Trump spoke of high tariffs imposed by India though, as was the case last time, he laced his disapproval by talking up his personal chemistry with PM Narendra Modi.

“I’m going to India next week and we’re talking trade. They’ve been hitting us very hard for many, many years. They give us tariffs, one of highest in the world,’’ he said at ‘Keep America Great’ rally in Colorado. But he also maintained that he “really likes” Modi whom he has met four times.

Government officials, however, said this was not a new observation since both Trump and the US establishment had always maintained that India was a big tariff country and that reciprocity was not there in trade terms. “This is something we don’t necessarily agree with. We believe in terms of our tariffs. We are being held to standards that are not comparable to other developing countries. Korea and Japan have higher tariffs in many areas than we do,’’ they maintained.

Before moving on to a grand bargain in trade, India wants the US to remove the punitive tariffs imposed on its exports of steel and aluminium products and resumption of duty-free to under Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) besides greater market access in the US for agriculture, automobile, auto components and engineering. In this transactional arrangement, the US wants duty cuts on farm and manufacturing products, medical devices and ICT products.

Who all are coming

Besides wife Melania, the US President will be accompanied by daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, National Security Adviser Robert C O’Brien and White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney will accompany the President too. TNS

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