India and the United States discussed ways to further boost trade and investment ties. The 14th India-United States Trade Policy Forum TPF meeting was held in New Delhi yesterday and was co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
They underlined the significance of the TPF in forging robust bilateral trade ties and in enhancing the overall economic relationship. Mr Goyal and Ms Tai welcomed the strong momentum in India-US bilateral trade in goods and services, which continued to rise and likely surpassed 200 billion dollars in the calendar year 2023 despite a challenging global trade environment. They acknowledged that considering the size of their economies, the significant potential remains unrealised and expressed their mutual desire to further enhance engagement to continue to increase and diversify bilateral trade. They also took stock of the significant progress made in addressing concerns impacting the bilateral trade relationship since the 13th TPF held in January last year. This was highlighted by the historic settlement of all seven longstanding trade disputes at the World Trade Organisation WTO between the two countries as well as the understanding of market access related to products of significance to the bilateral trade relationship. These outcomes were delivered in the context of the historic state visit of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States in June 2023 and subsequently, during the visit of US President Joe Biden to India for the G20 Summit in September 2023.
They agreed that their governments would pursue enhanced engagement leading to mutually beneficial outcomes in several areas, to deepen the trade relationship for the benefit of working people. Both sides identified certain areas, including critical minerals, customs and trade facilitation, supply chains, and trade in high-tech products, in which both countries will develop an ambitious and forward-looking roadmap for enhanced cooperation to achieve economically meaningful outcomes. They committed to pursuing these efforts to establish the foundation to launch future joint initiatives.
Mr. Goyal and Ms. Tai agreed to establish a pathway in which India and the United States will mutually recognise results from accredited conformity assessment bodies. They welcomed the finalisation of the Turtle Excluder Device design developed with the technical support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
