At the Trade Policy Forum, which convened after a four-year hiatus on Tuesday, the US and India agreed to integrating their economies across sectors in order to realize the bilateral relationship's latent potential.
The Forum, which was co-chaired by Commerce and Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs, and Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal and US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, decided to take economic ties between the two countries to the "next high level" and exchanged views on "potential targeted tariff reductions."
The two sides agreed to form Trade Policy Forum (TPF) working groups on agricultural, non-agriculture commodities, services, investment, and intellectual property to meet on a regular basis and discuss matters of mutual interest in a mutually advantageous way. By resolving unresolved market access difficulties, the goal is to provide substantial advantages to farmers and companies in both nations.
Market access on a mutual basis
In particular, the Forum has agreed to enable access to the US market for Indian mangoes, grapes, and pomegranates, as well as pomegranate arils, in exchange for equivalent access to the Indian market for cherries, pork/pork products, and alfalfa hay for animal feed.
Enhancing market access for items such as distillers' dry grains with solubles from the United States, as well as resolving market access problems for water buffalo meat and wild caught shrimp from India, will be discussed.
The Indian side has asked the US to restore GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) advantages, claiming that this would assist both sides' companies integrate their supply chains more efficiently. The US took note of it 'for appropriate consideration,' according to an official statement.
Totalization Accord
The Forum also agreed on the importance of negotiating a Social Security Totalization Agreement in the interests of both sides' employees, as well as the importance of continuing to engage in discussions in order to obtain such an agreement.
The totalisation agreement, which has been in the works for more than a decade, would allow workers from both countries to move their retirement savings, which is especially important for Indian IT workers in the United States, who lose billions of dollars in statutory US social security contributions that they are unable to repatriate home.
With the WTO ministerial meeting coming up next week, India and the United States discussed collaboration and constructive engagement in multilateral trade bodies such as the WTO and the G20 in order to achieve a shared vision of a transparent, rules-based global trading system among market economies and democracies.The Forum also determined to identify mutually acceptable solutions to the two nations' ongoing WTO issues.
Ms. Tai and Mr. Goyal authorised the TPF working groups to prepare plans of action for making significant progress by March 2022, including identifying particular trade outcomes that might be finalised in time for an inter-sessional TPF meeting in mid-2022.
Ethanol availability
The United States expressed interest in supplying ethanol to India, which has set a goal of blending 20% ethanol with gasoline by 2025, and the two countries agreed to collaborate with allies to develop a secure pharmaceutical manufacturing base and de-risk global supply chains in critical sectors like health.
In terms of services, the Forum explored how legal, nursing, and accounting services might help enable trade and investment growth, as well as how to collaborate on electronic payment services and the digital economy.
While India applauded the United States' recent decision to allow fully vaccinated Indians to travel there, the two countries agreed to continue working on visa difficulties to let professionals, skilled workers, experts, and scientific staff move freely.
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