Us Rejects Indian Offer On Import Curbs Phaseout

Bilateral talks between the US and India on the issue of removal of import curbs by the latter have come a cropper with Washington rejecting a final offer made by New Delhi.

The US rejected the offer late last month, said sources. The offer, forwarded on December 29 last year, had frontloaded 50 per cent of the 1,600 priority list items sought by the US to be freed in the first phase starting April 1, 1997.

The sources said that the offer had refused to give specific dates on which the import curbs on various items would be lifted and the US has argued that specific dates were necessary as it had to present the Indian offer before its own industry, exporters and the Congress.

 

Ministry sources confirmed that India was unwilling to give any commitments on when each item would go off the restricted list and has so far avoided offering any such commitment in all the agreements reached so far. Instead, the offers have just named the items since a specific indication on when each item would be freed could lead to speculation and dramatically affect the prices of goods.

Sources have, however, alleged that the country has indicated when certain top priority items will be phased out in their agreements with the EU and Australia.

They said that the pacts carried a confidentiality clause. Commerce ministry sources have strongly denied the allegation.

The confidentiality clause is not acceptable to the US since it needs to make the offer public to its industry and the Congress, said sources.

Experts have said that the agreement with the US will be the crucial agreement since it will be a most favoured nation agreement and will, therefore, benefit all the other trading partners too. The US is expected to drive a harder bargain than Indias other trading partners.

Diplomatic sources said that both sides will now await the report of the WTO dispute panel, which had been formed last year at the US behest.

The verdict is expected to come in around June-August this year. The elections in the country, they said, have not helped matters and there is no way that the stalemate could now be resolved.