Bold trade goals in spite of tariffs challenge

A trade deal, an ambitious target for bilateral trade, and a commitment to make it easier for companies from either country to invest in the other were among the highlights of the talks between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Thursday.

- Prashant Jha

WASHINGTON:

The two countries have sparred (on the trade front) on everything from shrimp and liquor to dairy products and the standards for hi-tech equipment, and a trade deal could resolve most of the issues, including one that figured prominently on Thursday -- tariffs.

On Thursday afternoon eastern time (early Friday morning IST), President Donald Trump signed an order that laid the pathway for the imposition of reciprocal tariffs on countries which, according to American assessment, made it more difficult for American products to enter their markets through higher tariff and non-tariff barriers than the US had for their products. Among the countries he singled out for high tariffs was India, throwing along the way a barb about how it was "very difficult" to do business in India. The reciprocal tariffs could come as early as April 1.

On Thursday evening, Trump met Modi and, both in the opening remarks at Oval Office and at a joint press conference, spoke about India's high tariffs again. He said he was unable to address the issue in the first term, and this time, he claimed he had made it easier by doing exactly to India what India did to US.

And on Thursday night, when the India-US joint statement was released, there was the announcement of "mission 500", declaring that the two countries had the aim of more than doubling total bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 and had decided to deepen trade ties "to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation".