US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to meet Prabhu on May 6

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will meet Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu on May 6 here to discuss trade-related issues amid America's decision to withdraw export benefits to Indian exporters, sources said.

"Ross is coming to participate in the Trade Winds Indo-Pacific Forum and Mission and would hold bilateral meeting with Prabhu," one of the sources said.

Currently, the India-US trade relation is going through a rough patch as the US has decided to withdraw export benefits to Indian exporters under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme.

The Trump administration has alleged that India in imposing high import duties on products such as paper and Harley Davidson motorcycles from America.

On the other hand, India has notified retaliatory tariffs on 29 US products but has time and again extended the deadline for imposing them. The latest deadline will end on May 2 and the commerce ministry has asked the revenue department to again extend the deadline by another 14 days.

GSP benefits are envisaged as non-reciprocal and non-discriminatory to be extended by developed countries to developing economies.

The US decided to withdraw GSP benefits even though both the sides were negotiating a kind of trade package to enhance two-way commerce.

Trade Winds Indo-Pacific Forum and Mission is a US government-sponsored trade show and a kind of trade outreach programme at the business-to-business level.

A business delegation, which is accompanying Ross, will visit different cities including Mumbai, Bangaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.