Trade with India Holds Promise, Problems, Say House Trade Subcommittee Witnesses
The India-U.S. trade relationship may hold huge possibility, due to India’s budding economy and booming population, but that potential won’t be realized unless the U.S. pushes India multilaterally and bilaterally to end its protectionist policies, industry representatives told the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee March 13.
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At a hearing on the “opportunities and challenges” between the two countries, witnesses gave the committee several examples of how India’s economic policy was hampering trade with the country. Indian tariffs on most U.S. export priorities are set as high as 100 percent, said Allen Johnson, former Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative, in his written testimony. Dairy, meat and other products also “face unjustified [sanitary and phytosanitary barriers] in India,” said Johnson, currently president of a trade consulting firm.
India is also pursuing a preferential market access policy and has not yet joined WTO negotiations to expand the Information Technology Agreement -- moves that, when combined with India’s other economic and trade policies, “appear specifically designed to disadvantage U.S. and foreign [information and communications technology] companies seeking to compete fairly in India,” said Dean Garfield, president of the Information Technology Industry Council, in testimony. Arvind Subramanian, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics and Center for Global Development, said the U.S. should use WTO dispute panels to resolve frictions with India’s trade policy, since the country has a good record of fixing issues post-dispute panel. Subramanian also recommended using upcoming trade deals -- like the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- to discriminate against Indian companies and exporters, placing pressure on India to open their markets.