US-India Bilateral trade policy

Why in news?

India recently raised few concerns in US-India bilateral Trade Policy Forum (TPF).

What are the significance recent of Indo-US trade ties?

• India has started buying crude oil from the US, and expected to buy more in coming years.
• There is great potential for the United States in the fast expanding aviation market in India.
• Indian aviation companies such as Spice jet and Jet Airways have placed orders for over 300 aircraft worth several billions of dollars.
• As American companies shift their manufacturing base from China to the US, this would also result in more American export to India.

What are the matters regarding Visa discussed in this forum?

• India “very strongly” raised the issue of H-1B and L1 visas with the US.
• The US has tightened the norms for issuing the most sought-after H-1B and L1 visas. Click here to know more about H1-B visas

• This in line with the Trump administration’s goal to protect American workers from discrimination and replacement by foreign labour.
• It more difficult for the renewal of H-1B and L1, popular among Indian IT professionals, saying that the burden of proof lies on the applicant even when an extension is sought.
• Under the current US rules, Indian IT professionals working in the US on H-1B visas do not get back their hard-earned contribution to Social Security, which runs into at least more than USD 1 billion per annum.

What are the matters of trade discussed in the forum?

• Taking note of America’s concern on price controls on medical devices, India encouraged US companies to take benefit of the “Make in India” policy.
• USA and India have agreed to address the issue of trade deficit by increasing and diversifying bilateral trade.
• The two countries have agreed to work on the issue of poultry, pork and intellectual property rights.
• In this meeting India have yielded positive results in removal of barriers in export of Indian mangoes to the US.
• Earlier it was tough because of the irradiation procedure adopted by the US, which not only makes its very expensive, but is also time consuming.
• India has sought cooperation from the US on certain technology sectors like artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and aviation.

Source: Business Line