US Wants Trade Pact; Post-coronavirus world would want to provide a new window for India, says US diplomat

New Delhi, May 21: The United States has said that post-coronavirus world provides a window of opportunity to India as countries are looking to diversify their supply chains. Alice G Wells, US State Department's top official for Central and South Asia, said that in the post-pandemic environment, countries are looking at a little bit of de-globalisation, on-shoring of the critical production and there's a very vigorous effort to diversify supply chains.

 

"This is a real moment of opportunity for India by adopting a more open and welcoming policies by reducing tariffs that allow manufacturing companies inside India to be part of the global supply chain", she said while addressing the media further adding that India was world's foremost producer of generic drugs and vaccinations, and would continue play a critical role.

 

 

Expressing her disappointment that the two countries could not reach a trade deal earlier this year, she said the importance of such a deal has only increased as the Indian economy faces additional headwinds. "We have also seen backsliding. We''ve seen steps that have been taken over the course of the last year that disadvantage foreign companies that change the rules of the road after companies have made very sizable investments or that have levied taxes again in a discriminatory fashion on American firms," she rued.

 

Observing that ease of doing business is particularly important when it comes to the pharmaceutical sector, Wells said that the US was pleased to see Gilead''s announcement last week that it''s going to source remdesivir from Indian companies.This is a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his video address to the nation asked people to go Vocal for Local products and opt for products, services 'Made in India' over those from ouside the country. "Local products have helped us fulfil our needs in such difficult time. Its our responsibility to be vocal for local products", he said.

 

Trade is very important part of India-US relationship and the two countries continue to work towards a deal as the bilateral trade between both touched almost USD 150 billion last year. She added that India is a critical actor, not just for America's South Asia strategy, but also for the vision of the Pacific region that president Trump put forward in November 2017.