The top US trade negotiator indicated on Wednesday that while a smaller trade deal with India was within reach, time could be running out due to “political change” taking place.
The reference was to President-elect Joe Biden who will replace President Donald Trump in the coming days.
“We’re not that far from a deal like that,” said Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative to the outgoing Trump administration. “We have a political change happening here and that is going to be a setback, certainly to the extent that it can facilitate that I would be happy to do it, but there is going to be some change and I guess that will slow things down.”
That, in other words, was the possible end of the Trump administration’s efforts to strike a smaller interim trade deal with India to establish a larger and more ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) at a later stage.
Lighthizer put the prospects of that larger deal into perspective with characteristic bluntness, saying, “In terms of a major deal, the kind of deal that I know your minister and our bosses would like, at least in concept. , I guess that’s not going to happen anytime soon. “
Lighthizer was participating in an annual summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which was held practically this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
India and the US have long-standing trade differences, which persist in the administrations of both countries. The Trump administration forced the pace of ongoing talks by ending special trade benefits for India in the summer of 2019.
Since then, talks had been under way to find a resolution: a smaller interim agreement that addresses immediate concerns and to be followed by a broader trade agreement at a later stage.
The interim trade deal, which Lighthizer referred to on Wednesday as the little deal, was to restore India’s terminated trade benefits from duty-free exports to the US under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) in exchange for greater access for US businesses. to certain Indian markets and some concessions.
The two sides had wanted to have an agreement ready to be signed and announced during Trump’s visit to India in February, but the salient differences remained along the way.
Lighthizer, known to be a tough negotiator, had canceled a visit to India before the president’s trip in a clear sign that talks were stalled.
Still publicly optimistic of a deal, which was described as “just a few phone calls away” at one stage, the two sides said they would sign an interim deal at a later time, either before or immediately after the November 3 elections. . . But, as Lighthizer pointed out, now it’s up to the Biden administration.
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