‘A deal will happen after Trump says done’

Mark Linscott, former Assistant US Trade Representative, talks about the persistent roarblocks for trade pact

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S India and the US attempt to reboot trade talks after a turbulent diplomatic spell, one question looms large: is real progress finally within reach, or are both sides still locked in a pattern of limited, transactional wins?

Mark Linscott, former Assistant US Trade Representative with deep experience across WTO/GATT, South and Central Asia, talks to Jayanth Jacob about the persistent roadblocks. Excerpts:

Having led past trade negotiations with India, what institutional or strategic challenges continue to prevent the two countries from achieving a comprehensive agreement?

The challenges aren’t new for the most part. Trade barriers are what make negotiations hard—identifying them, coming up with a strategy to get results on them, and then executing. It’s never easy. Commitments that require changes in laws are an obvious example. Any trade barrier tied to doing something that is politically costly to change will always be hard to agree on.

With India continuing to import Russian oil despite penalty tariff. Could this realistically impact ongoing trade talks, or is it more of a political pressure point?

It has already impacted ongoing trade talks. They stopped for a good period while the emotional side took over in state relations between the US and India. So it seems that an understanding on Russian oil purchases will have to come first or before announcement of any trade deal.