United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai on Monday said that India and the US faced shared challenges in areas like climate change, vulnerable supply chains, and promoting market-oriented principles and structures. Noting that the world looked at India as a “trusted partner,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said that India’s competitive advantages of cost, skilled manpower and huge market combined with US’ innovation and investment can become a winning partnership amongst natural friends.
Welcoming United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai at a reception here, he said India and the US have realised the necessity of diversifying critical supply chains and are “poised to play a leading role in developing trusted supply chains with other like-minded nations”. “The year 2020 had tested the world’s resolve and brought the world to a standstill. Despite the lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed us to ensure that India does not let down any of its international commitments for a single second. This is exactly what we did! We re-jigged our business processes. As a result, today the world looks at India as a ‘trusted partner,’” Goyal said.
“I believe that India’s competitive advantages of cost, skilled manpower and huge market domestic demand combined with US’ innovation and investment can become a winning partnership amongst natural friends,” he added.
Referring to United States-India Trade Policy Forum (TPF), the minister said that India and US can use this platform to engage and resolve outstanding issues in an amicable manner and send a strong message to the world that the US and India partnership is stronger than ever before. “I hope our meetings will encourage business communities and investors on both sides to look at a greater degree of engagement,” said the minister.
The minister said the relationship between the two countries gained strength due to defence cooperation. “While our relationship has gained strength over years due to our defence cooperation, the Quad security dialogue consisting of Australia, India, Japan and the US has given it a new boost. We are also driven by our shared commitment to tackling climate change. We are glad that you have joined the International Solar Alliance,” he said. Goyal said India-US bilateral trade is showing a robust increase and Indian economy has also recovered sharply.
Goyal also said that India is implementing the largest vaccination drive in the world against the Covid-19 pandemic. India has administered more than 1.1 billion doses, while it plans to manufacture 5 billion doses next year to help serve and secure all of humanity.
“Citizens from both our countries look towards India-US partnership with great optimism and hope. This is a partnership that can not only help each other but the entire world to recover from the pandemic,” said Goyal.
Accompanied by Deputy United States Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi, United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai is on a two-day visit to India. This is Tai’s first visit to India after she took office in March this year. Earlier, in a statement, the office of the USTR said: “Ambassador Katherine Tai and Ambassador Sarah Bianchi will travel to New Delhi, India to meet with India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal to deepen the US-India trade relationship”.
Tai said on Monday that trade relations with India are the top priority for President Joe Biden. “The trade relationship between our two countries is a priority, both for President Biden and for me. That’s why it was important for me to come to India and relaunch the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) on my first trip to Asia,” she said.
“I know that all of you in this room are similarly invested in the trade relationship. You are putting in the hard work to build commercial ventures, navigate the trading system, and strengthen ties between our countries on a daily basis. The TPF was created to foster those same activities,” she noted. She further stated that there is huge potential for growth between our two economies in areas like the digital economy, services, health-related trade, and even agriculture. “I believe that a revived TPF can help our trade relationship keep pace with other important aspects of the US-India partnership. But it’s clear that bilateral trade is not living up to its potential,” she said.
“President Biden and I are convinced that US trade policy requires a fundamental shift to ensure that our policies and actions focus on the impact that trade and trade agreements have on real, working people,” Tai said, adding that part of that means engaging in new ways “with you all, and my Indian government colleagues, to connect trade more directly to working people”. “We are committed to ensuring the trade partnership is both robust and sustainable,” she added.