TURNING TRUMP'S TAUNTS INTO OPPORTUNITY

Despite the unprecedented use of coarse language on the US side, India has remained restrained. Now, the Americans need to blink. And India needs a stronger negotiating machinery

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I have dealt with trade matters for 20 out of the 41 years of my career in the civil service-as an actual trader in two state government trading enterprises, as chairman of a commodity board and in the commerce ministry both in India and abroad. I have been ambassador of India to the World Trade Organization, the premier global institution for multilateral trade tasked with setting and enforcing trade rules.

I have negotiated with the US on multiple occasions. Never have I found them offensive in any manner. Even when the US Food and Drug Administration put Indian black pepper under ‘automatic detention'-which meant that all consignments had to be inspected and approved by an American laboratory after the shipments reached the US, thus adding to costs and making us less competitive in comparison with other producing countries our delegation was received with courtesy. They still retained a strong position on the quality of the pepper we exported, but listened to us with respect.

We took this as an opportunity to raise the quality of our product, both in farmyards and in processing units and storage godowns. When a US FDA representative visited us later, we showed him all that we had done to improve quality, and the stipulation of automatic detention at American ports was lifted. The great lessons that this episode taught me were the ability of our exporters and farmers to adapt quickly, and the manner in which the US FDA responded when they were convinced we were serious in setting our own house in order.