India-US Trade Policy Forum meeting expected soon, says Piyush Goyal

Asserts Indian exports not impacted by GSP, says India looking to have very contemporary and modern digital laws, while maintaining high levels of data privacy

India and the United States (US) will soon hold the next ministerial-level meeting of the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) in America discuss ways for promoting trade and investment between the countries, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said.

During a media interaction in Los Angeles at the TPF meet, both nations will come up with ‘more deliverables and newer areas of engagements’ for which the teams on either side have been tasked to start engaging with each other, an official statement from the commerce and industry ministry said on Friday.

Last November, US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and Goyal chaired the first meeting of the revived Trade Policy Forum in the national capital after a four-year gap. Both nations had hoped to reach some kind of an understanding to resolve issues pertaining to agriculture, non-agriculture goods, services, investments and intellectual property rights.

Goyal is currently on a six-day visit to San Francisco and Los Angeles where he will be attending the India-US Strategic Partnership Forum conference in San Francisco and the first in-person Indo Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) ministerial in Los Angeles on 8-9 September. IPEF is the first plurilateral deal that India has agreed to join after exiting Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) deal at the last minute in 2019.

The minister also held a bilateral meeting with USTR Katherine Tai and US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

On the topic of digital economy, Goyal said that he had informed his counterparts in the US that India was looking to have very contemporary and modern laws in the digital space while maintaining high levels of data privacy, particularly of Indian citizens’ personal data.

Currently, India is working on a robust data protection law that will be presented to the Parliament soon.

“India is a big provider of technology services and we have a shared interest to have a very good understanding of the laws because we have a great interest in export services also,” he added.

When asked about restoring the trade benefits under the GSP (Generalised System of Preferences) programme of the US, the Indian minister said :"I don't think that's an issue anymore. None of our exports have been affected by the GSP. So I think that's not an issue; that we have even discussed in recent times, including today."

Goyal also discussed ways to increase trade and economic relations with his counterparts from Vietnam and Japan.

With inputs from PTI