India-US trade talks to restart with little sign of compromise

NEW DELHI: Indian and US trade negotiators will meet on

Friday, with little sign of a compromise on a series of protectionist measures
taken by the two governments in recent months that have strained ties between
the strategic partners.

US President Donald Trump has been putting

pressure on India to do more to open its markets, saying this week again on
Twitter its high tariffs were “unacceptable”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, re-elected

in May, has been pushing nationalist policies with higher tariffs on everything
from electronic goods to tighter controls on foreign firms in the fast growing
e-commerce market to help foster domestic companies and create jobs for
millions of youth.

A delegation led by Assistant US Trade Representative

(AUSTR) for South and Central Asia, Christopher Wilson, will meet Indian
officials to try to restart negotiations on tit-for-tat tariffs that were put
on hold because of India’s election.

“Since India’s election period has now passed,

USTR officials are visiting India for relationship-building with Indian
government counterparts,” a USTR spokesperson said.

The USTR delegation is likely to meet Commerce

Minister Piyush Goyal along with key trade officials on Friday. The delegation
is also likely to meet top officials at the IT ministry.

Trump and Modi met in Osaka on the sidelines of

a G20 summit in June where they agreed to build ties and sort out thorny trade
issues.

At Friday’s meeting, New Delhi expects US

officials to push against India’s efforts to mandate foreign firms to store
more of their data locally, an Indian government official said.

Washington is also expected to seek revisions

to foreign investment rules for the e-commerce sector that have forced
companies such as Walmart Inc’s Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc to rework their
business strategies in the country.

“The meeting with USTR was meant to set the

tone for further talks after a positive G20 discussion. But Trump’s tweet has
shown their intention is to continue with a tough stance,” another official
said.

India’s trade ministry did not respond to a

Reuters email seeking comment.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar

said during a briefing that India was looking to resolve trade issues, many of
which were discussed in Osaka.

“We are looking forward to a constructive

engagement,” Kumar said.

One concern among Indian policymakers is that

the Trump administration may push for a free trade agreement with India that
could dent India’s competitiveness, lead to a flurry of imports and hurt Modi’s
“Make in India” plan.

In a recent meeting, Foreign Minister

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told trade ministry officials that “Trump is clearly
preparing for a larger game, a larger opening,” according to one of the
officials aware of the discussions.

Mark Linscott, a former USTR official, wrote in

India’s The Hindu newspaper on Tuesday that trade should be a bigger part of
the strategic partnership and that a free trade pact “is the ultimate example
of economic integration”.

Trade between and India and United States was

worth $142.1 billion in 2018, with India having a surplus of $24.2 billion.