As Modi heads for the US and talks with Donald Trump, trade and tariff issues could well dominate the agenda for both leaders.
Abhijit Das, a trade specialist who headed the Centre for WTO Studies, warns that “We should be prepared to be at the receiving end from the US in respect of not only lowering tariffs but also making changes to our domestic regime which pertains to services as well as Intellectual Property Rights.”
Das was a guest on The Gist and was speaking from his standpoint as somebody who has dealt with trade issues for many years.
He pointed to the National Trade Estimate that the US puts out every year, which is a litany of grievances against its trading partners and what they must do to promote the economic interests of the US.
With respect to India, tariffs figure prominently although “these are well within the system of rights negotiated as part of give and take during the Uruguay Round.
“So logically,” Das says, “India has elbow room to raise tariffs to a much higher level and if we decide to lower our tariffs on products of interest to the US, under the rules of the WTO, our lower tariffs will be applicable to the rest of the 165 members of the WTO.”
He expects the US to demand concessions from India in the insurance sector, aspects of the relationship between the government and the Life Insurance Corporation which Washington views with dis-favour. There could even be demands in the area of Intellectual Property Rights, specifically patents.
US Big Pharma, he underscored, is very unhappy with India’s generic pharmaceutical industry which by law, is allowed to bring out generic drugs once its 20 year patent period is over.
India is a big market, clearly there’s much profit to be made, so it may not come as a surprise of Section D of the Indian Patents Act is on the US agenda.
Tune in for more in this conversation with Abhijit Das, trade specialist and former head of the Centre for WTO Studies
