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Trade Deal
About a dozen officers from India will reach Washington on April 20 for three-day talks with the US authorities on the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA), an official said. As the tariff landscape has changed in the US, both sides may like to relook at the framework of the agreement, the text of which was released on February 7. Following the decision of the US Supreme Court against the sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on a number of countries, the Trump administration imposed a 10 per cent tariff on all countries from February 24 for 150 days. "The meeting will happen from April 20-22 in Washington DC. India's chief negotiator Darpan Jain (additional secretary in the department of commerce) is leading the team. Officers from customs and external affairs ministry are also part of the Indian team," the official said. Further, the two unilateral investigations launched by the US Trade Representative (USTR) may also figure in the three-day ...
The European Parliament voted Thursday to approve a trade deal between Washington and Brussels but with amendments added to protect European interests should the United States fail to hold up its end of the bargain. The deal was negotiated last July in Turnberry, Scotland, by US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It set a 15 per cent tariff on most goods in an effort to stave off far higher import duties on both sides that might have sent shock waves through economies around the globe. New language now says that the deal can be suspended if Washington "undermined the objectives of the deal, discriminated against EU economic operators, threatened member states' territorial integrity, foreign and defence policies, or engaged in economic coercion." That clause was forged because of the tensions over Greenland, said Bernd Lange, a German lawmaker and head of the EU's parliamentary trade committee. Trump drew widespread condemnation across th
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said the recent India-US trade deal was finalised after careful consideration and the government has ensured that no decision would harm the farming community. Speaking at a programme in Jaipur, he said, "I am speaking with full responsibility as the Agriculture Minister of India. In the trade agreement, we have taken complete care of the interests of Indian farmers. It has been ensured that there will be no loss for India's farming community," he said. On imports, Chouhan said the country has to bring in the things it need. "Even today, we are not self-sufficient when it comes to pulses. If something that we need comes from another country, what is the objection?" he asked. Similarly, he said, India imports around 5.5 lakh metric tonnes of apples. "They come from countries like Turkey and Iran. If one lakh metric tonnes come from the United States, after ensuring that it does not affect our farmers, what is the problem?"
The Congress will hold a rally over the issue of India-US trade deal in Punjab and it will be attended by Rahul Gandhi, said senior party leader Bhupesh Baghel here on Monday evening. Baghel said the rally is expected to be held either on February 28 or March 1. He said Rahul has been opposing the India-US trade deal in Lok Sabha and outside Lok Sabha and adding that he has already been raising farmers' related issues. "The fight over this issue (India-US trade deal) will begin from Punjab. A big rally will be held in which Rahul ji and other party leaders will be present," said Baghel. To a question on Union Home Minister Amit Shah asking Gandhi to debate this issue, Baghel said, "Amit Shah wants to hold a debate. We will come there. Farmers will come. You decide the time and place." Rahul has been attacking the BJP-led government and accusing it of a sell-out through the India-US trade deal and on Sunday he posed a string of questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged
The India-US interim trade deal gives a good opportunity to explore exporting of tractors to America, according to a senior official of farm and construction equipment firm Escorts Kubota. The company's Japanese parent Kubota Corporation has stated that it plans to turn India into its growth engine under its mid-term business plan for 2030, identifying business and projects from the country as one of the key aspects of the strategy. "We are not exporting to the US right now. We think with this tariff thing coming in now, probably this will give us a good opportunity to look at opening up that market again," Escorts Kubota Ltd whole-time director and CFO Bharat Madan told PTI. He was responding to a query on the impact of the India-US interim trade deal. "Right now, our parent company (Kubota) is exporting from Japan, and (US tariff on) Japan is about 15 per cent. So, there is not really a significant gap there (with that of India at 18 per cent," he noted. "That gives us a good ..
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that the government has "sold Bharat Mata" through the India-US interim trade deal and that it was a "wholesale surrender" with India's energy security handed over to America and farmers' interests compromised. Participating in the debate on the Union Budget, he said that had an INDIA Bloc government negotiated the trade agreement with the US, it would have told US President Donald Trump that he should treat India as an equal. "You have sold India. Are you not ashamed of selling India? You have sold our mother, Bharat Mata," he said while referring to the trade agreement. The LoP said energy security has gone under the India-US trade deal, and the US will decide "whom we buy oil from". Gandhi said the interests of the farmers have been compromised, and the farmers are facing a "storm" as agricultural products from the US will flood Indian markets. He also alleged that the Indian textile industry is "finished". The Congress le
India has always negotiated with a "clear mindset" on sectors that are "very" sensitive for the country in trade pacts and has protected all those key segments under the interim trade agreement with the US, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said. He also said that both teams are working to convert the joint statement into a legal agreement, which is expected to be finalised and signed before the end of March. "India has always negotiated all agreements with a clear mindset, anything that is very sensitive to India, anything where we feel our farmers, fishermen, dairy, they are going to be impacted, we have been very clear to our partner countries that India can not open up or provide access," he told reporters here. "If you look at all the agreements that we have done in the last year, five trade agreements that we did -- all the sensitive sectors have been protected. In the US, all the key sensitive sectors have been protected. Wherever there is a little sensitivity, we have used
The Congress on Wednesday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the India-US interim trade agreement, saying the deal is a steal by the "PM's good friend in Washington" and reflects an "abject failure" of our "political huglomacy" as well as economic diplomacy. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said no matter what spin the "PM and his lie-brigade" may give, the hard reality is that the US has extracted more from India than it has conceded. "It is significant that a number of independent analysts and commentators -- who have not been Modi-unfriendly -- have criticised the India-US trade deal as a capitulation, an asymmetrical set of commitments, a sell-out, and a humiliating cave-in," Ramesh said. "Whatever the spin that the PM and his lie-brigade may give, the hard reality is that the US has extracted more from India than it has conceded. This is inspite of Mr. Modi's aggressive wooing of President Trump, including campaigning for him in