White House official says India-US trade relationship have most friction
17 Mar 2018
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The Trump Administration is looking for a free, fair and reciprocal trade with India, a White House official said, adding trade is one aspect of India-US relationship that has the most friction, a White House Official said, PTI reported.
The comment from White House came days after President Donald Trump publicly raised the issue of high import duty by India on motorcycles at least three times in a month and threatened a reciprocal duty on Indian imports (See: Trump not satisfied with 50% cut in India’s motorcycle import duty).
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity on various aspects of American ties in South Asia, including India. however, added, the commitment to the relationship is very strong on both sides.
The official said that there has been concerns raised about the trade deficit with India, but pointed that this trade deficit has actually come down slightly more recently, based largely on India's imports of US energy.
"US is determined to find the opportunities to increase trade investment with India and does expect that there will be some sort of reciprocal dealings on the trade issues," PTI quoted the official as saying.
The senior administration official noted that Indian motorcycles that are imported into the US don't have any tariffs on them and said that the Trump Administration has been in constant talks with India on trade issues.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, who was in Washington DC this week met the US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
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