US president Trump on Monday planned to dismiss preferential trade terms with India, which allows India to export $5.6 billion worth of duty free products into the US. Trump further stated that ‘India has not assured the US that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to the market in India.’
In an exclusive conversation with Daily Times, Senior Defense Analyst Ikram Sehgal talked about his take and analysis regarding the whole Trump and India trade scenario.
Mr. Sehgal explained how political and economic interests of counties can be connected as long as they have mutual interests. He pointed out how the honeymoon period between India and US has come to an end. India had been ‘discovered with feet of clay in Afghanistan’ which is the reason why India was ousted from the peace negations in Afghanistan. Whereas in the past US had insisted that India be a part of the talks.
“Trump’s proposed termination of the GSP program, and his relationship with India maybe at its lowest since he realized how India had been taking the US for a ride for a long time, economically. In the future India may face more problems regarding its relationship with US, as India has not really reciprocated the trade balance with the US. Whereas USA has given Pakistan a lot of preferential treatment, and it might get worse for India in the future” he said.
He further added, “India has been having a bad week and militarily they have been stalemated by Pakistan. With the unfolding of recent events India has found out that the world doesn’t want to isolate Pakistan, even the OIC resolution shocked them. India needs to wake up and face the reality of the changing geopolitics.”
Published in Daily Times, March 6th 2019.
