labels: Economy - general
US says `no' to free trade with India news
21 February 2008

Mumbai: The United States is not yet ready for a free trade deal with India, the world's second-fastest growing economy, as it cannot fully open agricultural imports to American farmers.

"Quite honestly, it would be quite difficult, at this point of time for India to imagine doing that kind of a deal with the United States considering its sensitivities in agriculture," US trade representative Susan Schwab said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the India-US Summit for Small and Medium Enterprises in Chicago, Schwab said there was no comparison between her country and the EU when it comes to a free trade pact with India.

"EU is not a major agriculture producer, although they do a lot of export of value-added products. Same thing is with a lot of ASEAN countries," she said.

India is at advanced stages of negotiations on economic cooperation agreements with the EU, its largest trading partner, and ASEAN.

Commerce secretary Gopal K Pillai said India`s free trade agreement with the European Union encompasses "substantial" trade.

Schwab said if India is to have an FTA or economic cooperation agreement with the US, it has to allow a zero duty for everything, including highly-sensitive agriculture products.


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US says `no' to free trade with India