India’s trade engagement with the US has been steadily growing for the past two decades irrespective of the which President is in power in that country and with the taking over of Donald Trump in January next year, not much (adverse) impact is seen, a senior official said Thursday.
“There were four presidencies between 2001 and 2023. During the entire period irrespective of the Presidency there growth continues to happen and there is now a greater element of trade that is there between India and the US,” commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said.
“… we are integrating our value chains with the US, and integrating the two economies through various agreements including IPEF (Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity), other agreements and bilateral mechanisms. We are able to sustain a growth in the level of integration with the US. The US has also grown its exports to India,” he told reporters.
According to the data India’s share of US imports has grown to 2.8% in 2023 from 0.9% in 2001. During 2001-23, at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR), India’s exports to America rose by 10.48%. In this period, the US imports from the world has grown at 4.76%.
When asked whether India would ask for the proposed mini-trade deal which was discussed the first Trump-administration, the secretary said that currently the President-elect is building his team and once it is in place, there will be policy pronouncements from them and based on that, Indian government would be also taking a call.
The US is India’s biggest trading partner with bilateral merchandise trade in 2023-24 of $ 119 billion. India’s exports were $ 77.5 billion and imports $ 42.1 billion added to the goods trade is the massive services trade between the two countries. Services exports to the US were about $ 36.3 billion in 2023 and imports were $ 25.9 billion and rising.
“The US is a large services exporter. Services exports from the US have grown in the last 10 years with a consistent steady growth and our services exports to the US have also grown. If we look at services our trade balance is more or less equal,” additional secretary in the department of commerce Rajesh Agrawal said.
In April-October India’s goods exports to the US stood at $ 47.2 billion, up 6% on year.
After the election win of Donald Trump, the world waits for his administration to move on the trade front.
During the campaign he has announced that he will be raising import duties to 20% across the board and putting a 60% duty on Chinese imports. On some products like electric vehicles he has talked of 100% duties to level tariffs with trade partners of the US. He also singled out India in campaign speeches saying that among the major economies it imposes highest tariffs on goods.
Source from: https://www.financialexpress.com/policy/economy-trade-with-us-will-continue-to-grow-fast-govt-3665543/lite/