India

India has asked the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to further delay the termination of preferential benefits the country receives via the Generalized System of Preferences, a request that has been deferred to higher levels, a source told Inside U.S. Trade, confirming an outside report.

“Provide Congress time to work with the administration and ensure the decisions match both the letter and the spirit of the GSP law.”

“We are reserving our right to drag the U.S. to the WTO.”

The U.S. plans to end the preferential trade treatment afforded to India and Turkey under the Generalized System of Preferences, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said on Monday.

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.

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.

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.

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.