Trade is a challenge in relationship between India, US: Ambassador Shringla

International News

Trade is one of the challenges in the relationship between India and the US, a top Indian envoy said, exuding confidence that the two nations will soon be able to reach conclusions that are mutually beneficial and satisfactory.
"One of the issues (challenges) is trade. As the US seeks to recalibrate its trading relationships with not just India but with countries across the globe, we are happy to engage in that effort, Indian Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla said at The Heritage Foundation think-tank on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump during their meetings in Osaka, Japan, in June on the margins of the G-20 Summit directed their officials to address issues related to trade, Shringla noted.
Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are expected to meet soon in this regard, the ambassador said without indicating the dates.
That meeting would enable us to reach conclusions that are mutually beneficial and satisfactory, he said.
Observing that the two countries will have other issues like this as they go along, Shringla said, I have no doubt that we have both the mechanisms and the required political will to address these issues.
What is important that India-US is a strategic partnership and the momentum of that partnership has to be sustained, he asserted.
"It has to be seen in a long-term perspective and one that has the inerrant basis on which we can take this relationship forward," Shringla said.

 He asserted that this relationship should not be seen in a short-term perspective....Read More

China-US trade war heats up: 3 reasons why it won't cool down anytime soon

International News

The truce in the US-China trade war is in tatters.
China said on May 13 that it will impose new tariffs on a range of American goods in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s decision to raise duties on $200 billion in Chinese imports.

Although trade talks may continue, for now the trade war that Trump began in January 2018 is back on, which will mean more economic pain for companies and consumers in both the US and China.
As an economist who focuses on international trade, I believe there are three reasons the conflict could continue for a long time.

1. Mastering the fundamentals

All evidence suggests that negotiators have made little headway resolving the fundamental disagreements between China and the US.The most pressing issues involve deep structural features of the Chinese economy that China has little incentive – or in some cases, ability – to change. In short, the US believes that the Chinese government has been both too involved and not involved enough in how its economy functions.

The most important and long-standing issue is that the Chinese economy owes part of its rapid development in recent decades to heavy subsidization of targeted companies and industries. The US wants China to be much more transparent about this support and to reduce subsidies overall.


 At the same time, the Chinese government has not been doing enough when it comes to protecting foreign intellectual property in China. Copyright enforcement is still weak, and US companies are forced to transfer technologies to Chinese counterparts as a condition of doing business in the country.