Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s US visit, beginning Thursday, a major formation of Corporate America has upped its ante by urging the Obama administration to press India to “reverse” what it calls India’s “discriminatory” trade policies against American companies.
“Reversing discrimination and restoring trust would be a win-win, enabling American exporters to further invest in India’s future and help India grow its economy and create opportunities for its people,” says the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which has mobilized the US Congress in a big way in recent months.
The Prime Minister arrives in Washington on Thursday and will be meeting President Barack Obama on Friday, before heading to New York for the UN General Assembly session. In what may be the first concrete push to implement the India-US civil nuclear deal of 2008, a pre-early works contract is widely expected to be signed between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India and US firm Westinghouse during the Prime Minister’s visit.
But the NAM and several other leading American corporate bodies, including the US Chamber of Commerce, have opened a broader front against Indian economic and trade policies over the past several months, beginning with the run-up to Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to New Delhi in June for the annual US-India Strategic Dialogue.
Coinciding with the PM’s visit, the NAM has come up with a targeted digital and print ad campaign in major media outlets specializing in corporate and congressional affairs. The NAM and others which have formed an umbrella body, called Alliance for Fair Trade with India (AFTI), are touting their achievement in bringing up large bipartisan support for their cause. “At a time when Washington can’t agree on much, there is overwhelming bipartisan opposition to India’s discriminatory trade practices, with over 170 house members and 40 recently signing letters urging Secretary Kerry to take action,” NAM said.
At the bidding of lawmakers, the US International Trade Commission announced last month that it was launching a “fact-finding investigation into India’s trade and industrial policies”. In a statement welcoming the probe, the AFTI claimed: “India’s trade and investment climate continues to deteriorate, and this investigation will underscore the need for swift action to reverse India’s discriminatory practices.”
The AFTI has come down hard not only on Indian government’s policies, but also some court rulings, alleging that these have “repeatedly ignored internationally recognised rights by imposing arbitrary marketing restrictions on medical devices and denying or revoking patents for nearly a dozen lifesaving medications”.