WASHINGTON: Expressing readiness to revitalize bilateral trade relationship with India, the US manufacturing industry has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide foreign companies a level playing field by accepting global free trade agreement.
“Manufacturers remain hopeful that positive progress can be achieved. As Prime Minister Modi prepares to visit the US later this month, manufacturers urge him to take concrete steps to level the playing field and make bilateral trade and investment a two-way street,” said Linda Dempsey, Vice President of International Economic Affairs of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
“If India’s new leadership is serious about opening their economy for business, manufacturers in the United States stand ready to work with them,” she said in a statement.
Dempsey said manufacturers welcomed Modi’s election victory as a critical chance to reboot a stalled but promising commercial relationship.
By breaking down trade and investment barriers and strengthening intellectual property protections, manufacturers saw the potential to drive economic growth and prosperity in both countries and revitalize a trade relationship that has been increasingly out of balance, she said.
“Prime Minister Modi quickly declared India ‘open for business’ and promised to ‘give the world a favorable opportunity’ to manufacture in India.
“He outlined a bold series of economic reforms and challenged his ministers to implement an aggressive 100-day agenda. In his July budget speech, his Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, spoke of incentivizing overseas investment and announced plans to raise foreign investment caps,” Dempsey said.
She, however, said that in opposition to majority view India blocked implementation of a global trade facilitation agreement, a deal to standardize customs rules, which would have been the first global business reform in two decades.
“But actions speak louder than words, and, so far, India is pursuing business as usual. Since May, it has blocked implementation of a global trade facilitation deal that would have contributed USD 1 trillion to the world economy by cutting unnecessary red tape at the border,” she said.
“It has raised tariffs and imposed burdensome new testing requirements for imports. It has taken no action to strengthen weak intellectual property protections or eliminate barriers to US exports,” Dempsey said.
US President Barack Obama and Modi are schedule to meet at White House on September 29 and 30, the first meeting between the two leaders during which they would discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest to expand and deepen the US-India strategic partnership.–PTI
