India protests against US trade barriers at WTO

GENEVA: India at World Trade Organisation ( WTO) today protested against escalating tariff and non-tariff barriers imposed by the US on Indian goods and services including enhanced visa fee on Indian short-term services providers and the ban in Ohio on state outsourcing projects.

New Delhi cautioned the USA on its recent trade initiatives, particularly the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement (ACTA), saying "they contribute collectively to undermining not only the TRIPS (Trade related Intellectual Property Rights) agreement but the multilateral trading system as well in some measure."

"The US, which is the undisputed leader of the global trade arena, needs to set the bar high for the other nations to emulate" instead of delaying compliance with trade rulings pronounced by the WTO's dispute settlement body, it said.

During the tenth trade policy review of the US, India's trade envoy Ambassador Jayant Dasgupta listed a range of trade-related concerns and barriers encountered by Indian exporters of goods and services in the US market.

The trade policy review offers a platform for WTO members to state their immediate trade policy concerns in the country under examination.

Ahead of the review, the WTO Secretariat prepares a detailed report setting out the macro-economic and trade-related developments in the US, including numerous its trade and non-tariff measures.

The US trade envoy Ambassador Michael Punke said his administration was focused on generating largest opportunities for increasing American exports and jobs, and on opening markets and boosting innovation.

The US, he said, is committed to an ambitious Doha Development Agenda agreement in which the leading emerging countries must provide substantial market access.

In response, Ambassador Dasgupta acknowledged the expanding "multifaceted bilateral relationship" in which trade had emerged as a key component.

India 's merchandise exports to the US increased by 41.8 per cent to USD 16. 96 billion during Jan-July 2010 from USD 11.95 billion in the same period last year.

Ambassador Dasgupta said the US exports to India, which are largely capital equipments, jumped to USD 11.0 billion this year, maintaining that the average tariff on the US capital goods was around 5 per cent.

In sharp contrast, the US imposes "high tariffs on textiles, food products, footwear, leather goods and automotive components" and complex US domestic standards on products, including on Indian mangoes, the Indian trade envoy said.