The US has hinted that it no longer wants a “limited” trade deal with India that was negotiated for months under the Trump administration and was to cover products with annual bilateral trade of about $13 billion.
Addressing top representatives of over a dozen export promotion councils and others at a meeting in Mumbai on Thursday, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said: “The US, as of now, has kind of indicated that they are not looking for a new trade agreement. But we look at working with them on market access issues on both sides. That will also be a big opportunity for our export sector.”
The talks on market access issues will likely cover non-tariff barriers, mutual recognition agreements and quality standards of imported products.
The minister added that even the resolution of the problems related to a trade pact would boost outbound trade to the United States.
Goyal noted that matters such as non-tariff barriers, reaching mutually recognised agreements and aligning on better quality of international standards would lead to a spike in trade between the United States and India.
Goyal also specified the Centre’s priority list of countries with which it was going to forge a free trade agreement.
“Australia is first on the list, United Kingdom, then the United Arab Emirates, and if the UAE happens, the pact with GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] will also be expedited,” he said. “We have already started the dialogue with the UAE and one more country from the Middle East.”
So far, Australia has shown the “highest level of engagement”, Goyal said, according to Business Standard, adding that the country has displayed a lot of interest in early harvest agreement. This early harvest deal is considered a precursor to a free trade deal.
He also noted that discussions with the United Kingdom was “progressing well”.
The minister also said that discussions with the Canadian government had been impacted due to the Covid-19 crisis. Goyal added that the talks were likely to resume after the elections in Canada.
“We also have to open our markets to others if we are wanting a larger pie in their markets,” he said, according to The Hindu. “Therefore, my appeal to all of you is to also identify areas where we have confidence that we can withstand competition.”
