United States trade representative Katherine Tai on Monday said that India’s “unpredictable” regulatory norms, high tariffs and restricted market access were obstacles in bilateral trade between the two countries, The Hindu reported.
Tai is on a four-day visit to India to revive the US-India Trade Policy Forum.
On Monday, during a meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal at the United States Trade Representative office, Tai said stakeholders have often spoken about restrictive trade measures in India.
“These are issues where we intend to make progress on and they will be on the top of my list while I am here,” Tai said, according to The Hindu.
The trade representative added that the United States is working towards a worker-centric policy in the country. She added that she will also work with the Indian government on connecting trade “more directly with working people”.
“There is a huge potential for growth in our two countries, in areas like the digital economy, services, health-related trade and yes, even agriculture,” she said. “I believe that a revived TPF [Trade Policy Forum] can help our trade relationship keep pace with our other areas of engagement.”
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said he hoped the forum resolves pending problems related to trade between India and the United States amicably, PTI reported.
The US Trade Policy Forum has five focus groups – agriculture, investment, innovation and creativity, services – and tariff and non-tariff barriers.
In 2020-’21, India and the United States conducted bilateral trade worth $80.5 billion (approximately Rs 6 lakh crore). During this year, India received $13.8 billion (approximately Rs 1 lakh crore) foreign direct investment from the United States.
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