India, US to make another attempt to break deadlock in trade at Trade Policy Forum meet

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, January 8

India and the US will hold the next Trade Policy Forum (TPF) Ministerial meeting in Washington on January 11 in order to make a breakthrough in long-running trade issues, including the restoration of low-duty access to Rs 40,000 crore worth Indian goods, and faster visas for the movement of legal, nursing and scientific personnel. A global economic slowdown this year and India’s slowing exports, which were recently red-flagged by the IMF, have lent urgency to the discussions.

The last TPF Ministerial meeting was held on November 23, 2021, after a gap of four years in New Delhi. The TPF was supposed to be a platform for continuous engagement between two countries in the area of trade and to further bilateral trade and investment relations, but has been meeting fitfully due to a lack of breakthrough in increasing trade.

The forthcoming meeting, on the basis of reports by several sectoral working groups, will also discuss cooperation with the US and other “like-minded partners” to develop secure supply chains in critical technologies including cyberspace, semiconductors, AI, 5G and 6G, said sources.

In the last meeting the TPF agreed to Indian exports of mangoes and pomegranates to the US while this one will take up the pending issue of table grapes, export of buffalo meat and wild caught shrimp. India in reciprocation allowed the import of cherries and alfalfa hay for animal feed from the US and is now pushing for export of pork and pork products.

The TPF Ministerial meeting is co-chaired by the Commerce Minister from the Indian side and by the US Trade Representative from the US side. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will leave for New York and Washington from January 9 to 22 during which he will also co-chair the TPF meeting.

Goyal will also interact with CEOs of multinational enterprises, participate in community events, join roundtable meetings with business leaders and think tanks, and visit industries in New York. He will also meet US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.