“Bilateral negotiations are going well and India will be the first country to sign a trade agreement among those interested in reaching an agreement with the United States. As the first phase, an agreement on commodity trade will be signed 90 days before. Agreements related to services, investment and e-commerce will be signed later by 90 days.”
To bridge the trade surplus, India proposes to buy more and more products from the United States. The list includes shale gas, petrochemicals, polymers, defense equipment, aircraft and high-tech chips for oil.
As far as cars are concerned, India will admit to buying a vehicle based on a certain CIF (cost, insurance and freight) value threshold. The responsibilities of these cars will be greatly reduced. India may not open up the automotive industry for American cars.
Although the United States wants India to buy its dairy products, issues related to non-vegetarian feed for American cattle, as Indian vegetarians will reject the product. This is also a problem that arises during the trade talks with the EU. “The U.S. side has proposed a suggestion for export of milk from cows eaten in the rainforest region. However, this requires different packaging and labels, which seems difficult to accomplish at the moment.” India has not relaxed its position on importing GM foods.
According to current negotiations, the United States has not insisted on reducing India’s agricultural subsidies, which has been demanded for years. The need to relax patent norms may lead to common norms for patented pharmaceuticals or may not be clarified in trade agreements.
Instead, India will relax several non-tariff measures. India will quickly track the quality control sequence of U.S. products. License requirements and import technology barriers may also relax.
