Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With US President Donald Trump’s chief trade negotiator criticizing India and the European Union (EU) for their practices, negotiations are dragging on and a trade deal between India with the US and EU are likely to be delayed, the media reported on Saturday.
America’s Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the US concluded deals with a slew of other partners after starting talks with India, indicating delays.
He critiqued the practices of two key US partners, the EU and India, signaling that contentious talks are set to spill into the new year.
Greer said he discussed EU regulation of American technology companies on Thursday with the bloc’s trade commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, and reinforced “strong concerns” that the measures are discriminatory against US companies.
He also said negotiations with India that began earlier this year still haven’t resulted in an agreement — noting that the US had concluded deals with a slew of other partners, from Malaysia to Switzerland, in the interim.
“I have not been surprised at where it’s been more challenging,” Greer told a media outlet on Friday. In the case of the EU, he highlighted non-tariff barriers that exclude American agriculture and regulations that limit industrial exports.
Greer’s office, in a social media post this week, threatened retaliation against the EU in response to efforts to tax American tech companies, singling out prominent firms, including Accenture Plc, Siemens AG and Spotify Technology SA, as possible targets for new restrictions or fees.
At issue are EU policies governing digital commerce, as the bloc moves to regulate US tech giants, including Alphabet Inc’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc and Amazon.com Inc. Critics of European digital regulation say they slow technological innovation and unfairly seek to raise funds.
While the EU said it has revenue thresholds for the new regulatory framework, Greer said, “magically, it only happens to capture US companies.”
The EU has defended its approach, with Sefcovic saying on Monday that the bloc is “going to protect our tech sovereignty.”
Greer’s comments on India come after Trump spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week as negotiators work to resolve differences over an elusive trade agreement.
It was the fourth call by the two leaders since Trump imposed hefty tariffs of 50 percent on Indian goods in August, and shows the two sides are taking gradual steps to reset ties. Trade negotiators, though, appear to have made little progress toward clinching a deal despite months of talks, including this week in New Delhi.
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