A trade deal between India and the US could become a reality soon, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said Saturday, dismissing concerns over the trade differences between the two nations. But India must stand up for its interests, he told NDTV’s CEO and Editor-In-Chief Rahul Kanwal at the HT Leadership Summit this morning.
Jaishankar also ruled out any lack of communication with Washington and stressed the need for engagement to rule out the differences.
“We believe there can be a landing point for our respective trade interests. It is something that will be negotiated hard. For us, the interests of the workers, farmers, and the middle class matter. When we look at trade agreements with the US, we must be judicious,” said the foreign minister.
Jaishankar called trade the most significant issue in the India-US ties, sounding confident of a reasonable point of agreement in the near future. “Trade is the most important issue with the US. It is central to the thinking in Washington. We are prepared to meet it on reasonable terms,” he added.
US President Donald Trump has often criticised the bilateral trade deficit with India, with the two countries negotiating hard over the past few months to strike a comprehensive trade deal.
In the past, India had opposed several key points in the US demand list, which included opening the country’s vulnerable dairy and poultry markets to US players. The US has also been pressing India to open its markets to American agricultural products like corn, soybeans, wheat, ethanol, fruits, and nuts.
Being an agrarian economy, India has held back on providing access. Such demands crossed the “red line” for India, the government had said.
The major reason behind India’s pushback is that the US mostly grows genetically modified corn and soybeans. India does not allow the import of GM food crops and considers them harmful to human health and the environment.
Dairy is another very sensitive sector that provides livelihood to millions of people in the country. Several small and landless farmers depend on this sector, with dairy helping them sustain erratic monsoons or fluctuations in crop production.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, has declared in the past that India won’t compromise on the interests of farmers.