India US Trade Deal: The “father of all deals” has been twisted by the United States in a strange turn of events. The revised India-US trade deal factsheet now features word changes from India “commits” to India “intends” for purchasing $500 billion in goods produced by the United States. The revised factsheet also removed references to specific agricultural items and digital services tax.
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India US Trade Deal-What Did The Initial Version Said?
The factsheet of the initial version stated that India will commit to purchase over $500 billion of American products including US energy, agricultural, coal, information & communication technology and other products.
It was also noted that India would reduce or remove tariffs on all US industrial goods and a series of food and agricultural products such as fresh and processed fruit, certain pulses, soybean oil, wine and spirits, dried distillers’ grains (DDGs), red sorghum, tree nuts and additional products.
What Does The Revised Version Say?
The revised version on website of the White House says that India “intends” to purchase more of American goods. The revised version also “deliberately” omits the term “agricultural” from the list of product categories.
The revised version does not state that India would be removing its digital services taxes but instead notes that India is committed for negotiating a powerful set of bilateral digital trade rules.
As per the trade deal’s proposed arrangement, the Trump-led government would reduce tariffs to 18 percent from the existing 50 percent on Indian goods. In return, the Asian superpower would significantly reduce or eliminate import duties on all industrial products of the United States.
The India US Trade Deal is likely to be signed by mid-March this year. Many in the political circles believe that Donald Trump gave his acceptance to the deal fearing that the India and the European Union deal would hurt the supremacy objectives of the United States.
