Addressing India’s trade barriers on top of my agenda: USTR

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Monday said addressing contentious bilateral trade issues such as market access restrictions, high tariffs, unpredictable regulatory requirements, and restrictive digital trade measures will top her agenda during her ongoing two-day visit to India to relaunch the Trade Policy Forum. Established in 2005, the forum seeks to resolve outstanding bilateral issues and promote trade and investment through focused discussions under various working groups such as on agriculture, tariff and non-tariff barriers, services, investment, and innovation. At USTR, we hear very frequently from our stakeholders who are not shy on issues that would be familiar to those of you involved in moving goods and services between our two countries: Market access restrictions, high tariffs, unpredictable regulatory requirements, restrictive digital trade measures—these are issues where we intend to make progress, and they will be on top of my list while I am here,” she said. Welcoming Tai, trade minister Piyush Goyal said she has a significant role to play in the emerging world order and that he is confident she will deftly handle the emerging geopolitical challenges and nurture increased engagement between the world’s oldest and largest democracy.