A day after the release of the outline of the India-US trade agreement, the White House has quietly made changes to important terms and conditions in the fact sheet related to it. The biggest change in these amendments is regarding the language in which it was earlier said that India is ‘committed’ to purchasing American products. Now it has been changed to ‘India intends to purchase American products’.
The fact sheet released by the White House on Tuesday (February 10) had earlier mentioned that India is committed to buying American products worth more than US$500 billion. The initial version read, “India has ‘committed’ to buying more US products and purchasing US energy, information and communications technology, agriculture, coal and other products worth more than US$500 billion.
Now in the revised version it has been changed to say that India “intends to buy more American products.” Along with this, the word “agriculture” has also been removed from the list of product categories.
Similarly, the earlier fact sheet also said that “India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including DDGs, red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruits, certain pulses, soybean oil, wines, and spirits.”
In the new version, the mention of certain pulses has been removed, which is being linked to India’s domestic agricultural interests.
The stance regarding digital tax has also been changed. “India will remove its digital services tax and has committed to negotiating stronger bilateral digital trade rules to address discriminatory or burdensome practices,” the earlier factsheet said.
The revised fact sheet no longer says “India will remove digital services tax.” Instead it only mentions that “India has committed to negotiating stronger bilateral digital trade rules.”
It is noteworthy that last week India and America had announced the outline of an interim trade agreement, under which both the countries will promote bilateral trade by reducing import duties. According to the proposed arrangement, America will reduce the duty on Indian goods from 50 percent to 18 percent. In return, India will eliminate or substantially reduce tariffs on all US industrial products and many food-agriculture goods.
According to a joint statement by the two countries, India plans to buy products worth about US$500 billion, including energy, aircraft and aircraft components, precious metals, technology products and coking coal over the next five years.
Meanwhile, in the final phase of the agreement, US President Donald Trump has also removed the 25 percent additional duty imposed in August on India for buying oil from Russia. According to the White House, India has taken important steps and committed to stop importing oil directly or indirectly from Moscow.
The final trade deal between India and the US is likely to be signed by mid-March this year, but these amendments to the fact sheet indicate that India has got the best deal from the US.
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