(PTI Exclusive) Having smooth trading relationship is in mutual interest of India, US: Indian envoy

It is in the mutual interest of India and the US to have a smooth trading relationship and they can find ways to deal with some of the "minor speed bumps", Indian Ambassador to the US, Harsh Vardhan Shringla said, amid bilateral trade frictions.

Trade tensions between India and the US have been rising with President Donald Trump complaining on Twitter that tariffs imposed by New Delhi on American products were "no longer acceptable".

"Our two countries have made such accelerated progress. In the last 10 years, we have come far beyond what either of the countries would have imagined and as a result we are bound to have issues that would arise when two countries, two partners or even two individuals take that cooperation forward to that extent," Shringla told PTI in an interview here.

Shringla was on a brief, yet action-packed, visit to New York, meeting NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and several CEOs based in New York during his trip.

In March, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced that the US will terminate India's designation as beneficiary developing country under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme.

"India has implemented a wide array of trade barriers that create serious negative effects on US commerce. Despite intensive engagement, India has failed to take the necessary steps to meet the GSP criterion," the USTR said.

India imposed retaliatory tariffs on 28 US products including almonds and apples from June 5, after the Trump Administration revoked its preferential trade privileges.

Trump, a day before his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G-20 Summit in Osaka (Japan), tweeted that he looks forward to speaking with the Indian leader "about the fact that India, for years having put very high Tariffs against the US, just recently increased the Tariffs even further. This is unacceptable and the Tariffs must be withdrawn!"
Highlighting that the US was India's largest trading partner and New Delhi being the 9th largest trading partner of Washington, he said, "We have significant investments in each other's countries. Not only has the US invested about USD 50 billion in India, India has also invested heavily in the US."