Forgot password?
Sign up today and your first download is free.
REGISTER
The U.S. and Canada are accusing India of exceeding its World Trade Organization limits on market price support for a handful of agricultural products, the two countries said in a counter-notification filed on Tuesday.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative could suspend India's Generalized System of Preferences benefits as soon as this month, further complicating prospects for a U.S.-India trade deal, according to reports and sources familiar with bilateral talks.
U.S. and Indian officials are continuing to discuss a range of trade issues with an eye toward some type of agreement following India's upcoming elections, though an official U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum meeting remains unscheduled, according to sources.
The U.S. and other World Trade Organization members this week raised numerous concerns with India' domestic support for agriculture, which India called flawed and untrue.
Trade ministers who gathered in Singapore on Monday were unable to finalize a deal and are now eyeing 2019. India's concerns are still seen as a primary obstacle.
India has continued to delay imposing retaliatory tariffs as it is engaged in trade discussions with the U.S.
The U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum, slated for this week, has been delayed as trade talks between the two countries have failed to generate enough momentum to justify a tentative plan for U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to travel to New Delhi, sources told Inside U.S. Trade.
An arbitrator's decision is set for October, with a compliance panel report set to be released in December.
Doud said NAFTA talks with Mexico were “going as well as we can possibly expect right now,” while there had been no “market access conversations with Canada of any substance.”
The tariffs – retaliation for U.S. Section 232 steel and aluminum duties – will cover products like walnuts, almonds and apples. They are set to kick in on Sept. 18.
India argued this week that a move by the U.S. to end India’s benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences would be “discriminatory, arbitrary and detrimental” to the country -- and could violate World Trade Organization rules.
India this week pledged to maintain its agricultural domestic support systems despite U.S. allegations that they violate World Trade Organization rules.
Suresh Prabhu met this week with USTR Lighthizer, Commerce Secretary Ross and others, including members of Congress.
India has formally requested World Trade Organization dispute settlement consultations with the United States over U.S. Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as quota arrangements the U.S. reached with certain countries to give them relief from the duties.
The U.S. is using the Generalized System of Preferences, which gives products from qualifying developing countries tariff-free access to the U.S., to pressure countries to raise their sanitary and phytosanitary standards, U.S. chief agriculture negotiator Gregg Doud said on Tuesday.
India provides agricultural market price support for wheat and rice beyond what is allowed under WTO rules and what it has reported to the global trade body, the U.S. has alleged.
“Any discussions regarding the Proclamations would not be under the Agreement on Safeguards and would be without prejudice to our view that the Proclamations are not safeguard measures.”