Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Washington
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has pushed for India to further open its economy and also “diversify” its energy portfolio, saying countries that have provided American companies access to their markets have seen “real opportunity”.
Speaking at the India Ideas Summit of US-India Business Council here on Wednesday, ahead of his visit to New Delhi later this month, he said America is “open” to dialogue on trade issues.
He said countries that had allowed US firms to have a “fair and reciprocal trade” had seen America open up to them. “And I think they’ve seen real opportunity.”
The top American diplomat’s remarks have come amid trade-related frictions between the United States and several other countries, including Mexico, India and China.
US President Donald Trump has been pursuing his trade policies aggressively and imposed tariffs on China, hitting billions of dollars of import of Chinese products.
The US media on Friday reported that India could be his next target.
On Monday in a TV interview, Trump criticised India’s import tariff on Harley Davidson motorcycles as “unacceptable”, though he acknowledged that his “good friend” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had slashed the duty by half.
Earlier this month, Trump announced his decision to terminate India’s designation as a beneficiary under the Generalised System of Preference Trade programme, which allowed duty-free entry for products into the US, from June 5.
During his visit to India, Pompeo is to meet Prime Minister Modi and his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, and is likely to discuss trade in addition to strategic issues.
“We remain open to dialogue, and hope that our friends in India will drop their trade barriers and trust in the competitiveness” of their companies and businesses, he said at his policy speech at USIBC.
“We’ll also push for free flow of data across borders, not just to help American companies, but to protect data and secure consumers’ privacy,” he said. “And speaking of privacy, we are eager to help India establish secure communications networks–including 5G.”
The two countries had to make sure they had economic openness, he said, adding that the Trump Administration is trying to take down financial barriers and create open markets.
“It needs to be a place where our partnership is one of true equals, not of domination. Based on my conversations in New Delhi last year, and in subsequent phone calls and meetings, I believe this is a deeply shared vision,” Pompeo said, referring to his previous visit to India in September last year for the inaugural ‘2+2 dialogue’.
Pompeo said more than 500 American companies successfully operated in India and the US is a market of roughly 20 per cent of India’s exports in both goods and services.
“I think that makes India a perfect partner and a great place for us to figure out how to grow our economies and get win-win solutions for both nations,” he said, adding that India’s free-market reforms unleashed innovation and entrepreneurship.
“That prosperity that began to be ushered back in 1991 has helped propel Indians to every corner of the earth,” he said.
