With or without US trade deal, regulatory issues remain for both countries

No matter whether India manages to sign a deal with Trump or not, both countries are also heading for a showdown on various pending issues in the regulatory space. The absence of a bilateral investment protection treaty, American concerns with India's data localization norms and India's attempt's to rein in the e-commerce sector are set to become major battle arenas between the two nations once the wrangling over tariff duties ends.

The lack of an investment pact between the two has been raised by US investors for leaving their investments in India without requisite legal protection. India has decided to terminate its existing investment pacts with other countries in 2016 with the government maintaining that all future investment pacts will be negotiated under the framework of the model Bilateral Investment Treaty issued by the government in 2015.

This was meant to form the basis for individual deal agreements to be negotiated with other nations. However, four years after unilaterally terminating investment pacts in 2016, only four BITs — with Bangladesh, Belarus, Colombia, and Taiwan — have materialised. Since the negotiations are not time-bound, there’s no deadline to conclude currently ongoing talks with 11 other nations, an official said.