India on Thursday stated that it did meet the criteria of the trade privileges under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), which the United States granted to several developing nations. President Donald Trump’s administration had withdrawn it for India earlier this year. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale underlined India’s eligibility for GSP trade privileges for duty-free exports of certain products to the US just a day after the US President himself hinted that he might make an announcement during his forthcoming joint appearance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ‘Howdy! Modi’ event in Houston on Sunday.
Gokhale added that the US should also withdraw the tariffs it had unilaterally imposed on import of steel and aluminum from India under Section 232 of America’s Trade Expansion Act of 1962. ‘It has always been India’s position that the GSP is a unilateral decision given by countries to other countries based on certain criteria. We are a developing country. We meet those criteria,’ the Foreign Secretary said while briefing reporters about the Prime Minister’s visit to the US from September 21 to 28. ‘To my recollection, the United States unilaterally withdrew that concession from us.
Ultimately, it is a matter for the US to take a call on,’ he said, replying to a query on the possibility of the US restoring India’s GSP beneficiary status during the visit of Prime Minister to Houston and New York. A bipartisan group of as many as 44 members of American Congress — 26 Democrats and 18 Republicans — recently wrote to US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, requesting him to restore the GSP beneficiary status of India in case of progress in negotiations with New Delhi. Lighthizer is leading the Trump administration’s trade negotiation with New Delhi. Gokhale on Thursday said that the government of India had seen reports about the letter written by the American Congress members to the US trade representatives.
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