AFBF Trade Deal With India Will Be Challenging

The American Farm Bureau Federation says a U.S. trade deal with India will be much harder to win than the just-signed Phase One deal with China.  AFB’s Dave Salmonsen said India is not China, and decades of American efforts have failed to break India’s trade barriers.

“India is not the same place as China, has its own history, a different kind of government, they say the world’s largest democracy, a large internal agriculture sector.  And they maintain very high tariffs on imports.  India really has a long way to go to open itself up to world trade.”

Salmonsen says any gains the U.S. makes will be hard to come by.  Reuters recently reported the U.S. wants India to buy another $5-6 billion worth of U.S. farm goods if New Delhi wants to win renewal of zero tariff privileges and a pending trade deal with the U.S.  That, as President Trump heads to India next month.

“With India, we don’t have really quite the same footprint of U.S. businesses working in India. There are many businesses in India, a lot of back and forth. But it’s not quite the same as it is with China. The economies aren’t anywhere near as integrated.”

Nor as big, with U.S.-India trade in 2018 at some $143 billion, versus almost $660 billion between the U.S. and China.

But, negotiators are hammering out a possible U.S.-India deal that according to Reuters would reduce tariffs on apples, almonds, and walnuts.

The U.S. also seeks more sales of frozen poultry in India.

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