AFTE Urges USTR to Strengthen U.S.-India Trade Enforcement
WASHINGTON (November 5) – Today, the Alliance for Trade Enforcement (AFTE) sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai in support of strengthening the U.S.-India trade relationship and renewing the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum (TPF). The Alliance urged Ambassador Tai to ensure that the renewed TPF eliminates significant trade barriers in India to expand economic opportunities for U.S. workers and businesses.
“The U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum set a goal in 2014 to grow bilateral trade volumes to $500 billion. That goal still has not been met,” said Brian Pomper, Executive Director of the Alliance for Trade Enforcement. “Addressing onerous trade barriers in India can help to realize the potential of this trading relationship, benefiting both countries’ economies and strengthening the overall relationship.”
For example, India’s unwillingness during COVID-19 to conduct in-person inspections of foreign factories, or permit virtual audits, has kept U.S. manufacturers from receiving the approvals needed to sell their products there. India’s preferential procurement policies also block U.S. pharmaceuticals and medical devices from entering the market and reaching Indian patients. Further, India’s increasing use of technical barriers to trade and problematic regulatory processes unfairly advantage Indian domestic businesses at the expense of U.S. workers and businesses in a wide range of sectors. And digital protectionist policies — like data localization requirements imposed by the Reserve Bank of India — make it harder for electronic payment services firms to do business in India.
In its letter to USTR, AFTE outlines steps that India and the United States can take to address these and other barriers to increase trade between our two nations.
“AFTE looks forward to working with Ambassador Tai and her team as they renew the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum,” said Pomper. “Doing so will reinvigorate our trading relationship with India and create much-needed economic opportunities for American workers and businesses.”
About the Alliance for Trade Enforcement: The Alliance for Trade Enforcement is a coalition of trade associations and business groups that advocates for foreign governments to end unfair trade practices that harm U.S. innovative industries and supports U.S. policymakers in their efforts to hold our trading partners accountable.
