Now is not the right time to get into a detailed negotiation around two important trade issues for India - a preferential trade program with the U.S. and a social security agreement, according to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

During his Thursday (October 4, 2024) meeting with U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai, Mr. Goyal and Ms. Tai had laid the groundwork for the next Trade Policy Forum, he said. However, they did not discuss in detail two key issues of importance to India in the TPF – an agreement on social security totalisation or the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a preferential trade program which India was removed from under the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Speaking to reporters in Washington DC at the end of a three day visit to the U.S., Mr. Goyal said it was not the right time to discuss the issue as the U.S. was on the brink of an election but both the issues were “at least flagged off” in Thursday’s meeting, which he described as “informal”

“Both these issues are not on the agenda right now not on the agenda before USTR or me,” he said, responding to a question from The Hindu. The minister that the government would have to work with the Ways & Means Committee of the U.S. Congress on the GSP issue.

“It’s sad that when it actually originally happened [2019] … the then government did not really take it seriously enough to solve it at that time, but maybe that’s destined for another day,” he said.

The entire GSP program, which grants greater U.S. market access (via lower tariffs) to certain sectors in designated countries has to be re-authorized by the U.S. Congress, before countries can be readmitted to the program.

A social security agreement is more complex, given it involved large sums of money (billions of dollars per year).

The minsiter said the subject should have been resolved when the number of Indians working in the U.S. was small and therefore the impact of an agreement was small. Now the dimensions of the problem has become large with significant sums involved.

“It’s a subject that is festered for far too long and is not going to get resolved overnight …particularly in a government that is waiting for the elections to happen,” he said.

India, U.S. looking to move from Problem Solving to Cooperation

He said having solved their disputes at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), where the two countries have had a litigious relationship, India and the U.S. were looking at cooperation.

“We are now seeing how we can cooperate with each other in a greater way for the issues before the WTO,” he said, adding,

“So now we are looking at seeing how we can take proactive measures to take this relationship to the next step.”