Unpredictable policies key impediments to bilateral trade, U.S. tells India
The HinduU.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Monday flagged India’s ‘unpredictable’ regulatory norms, high tariffs and market access restrictions as key impediments to bilateral trade, emphasised America’s continued interest in agriculture market access and conveyed that “worker-centric” policies will be the pivot for the Joe Biden administration’s approach to trade policy. “At the USTR’s office, we hear very frequently from our stakeholders, who are not shy, on issues that will 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 trade measures… These are issues where we intend to make progress on and they will be on the top of my list while I am here,” Ms. Tai said. Signalling a major switch to a “worker-centric” focus in the U.S. policy, Ms. Tai said: “President Biden is convinced that the U.S. policy needs a fundamental shift to ensure that our policies and actions focus on the impact that trade and trade agreements have on the lives of real working people.” She said she will work closely with the Indian Government ‘colleagues’ including Labour and Employment Minister Bhupendra Yadav on connecting trade “more directly with working people”. Mukesh Aghi, President of the USISPF, said: “Minister Piyush Goyal recently spoke at USISPF’s annual general meeting and spoke of a trillion-dollar bilateral trade target between India and the U.S. by 2030.