'Trust Trump', says top US trade negotiator to India

Washington, June 3 (IANS) US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who is one of the Trump administration's key trade negotiators, has urged India to trust the US President Donald Trump, saying he will "take care" of India's interests.

Lutnick, who is the lead US trade negotiator with India and a close adviser to President Trump, also expressed optimism about a deal with India soon.

"The President thinks of America first, but he does not think of America only or America exclusively," he said at the annual summit of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).

"First, he's got to take care of home so we're big and strong, but then he's going to take care of his allies. He's going to make sure he takes care of India who he deeply, deeply admires and respects, and we are going to have a great, great relationship together."

The Commerce Secretary sounded less conciliatory when he laid out the US terms for a deal: "India is very protectionist with tariffs. They have 100 per cent tariff on this and 100 per cent tariff on that. And if you ask them why, the answer is, I don't know why. It just is. So I think the idea of really looking at those things, thinking about them, and bringing them down to a level that is reasonable and appropriate so we can be great trading partners with each other, I think, is absolutely on the table, and it's not stressful because they haven't thought about it. They think, yeah, it makes sense. Let's go make this a proper trading relationship."

The US is seeking simply more access to the Indian market.

"What I hope to achieve is market access. We would like our businesses to have reasonable access to the markets of India. Now, it's not going to be everything, and it's not going to be everywhere, but we want to have the trade deficit reduced now, in exchange for that, what India is going to want is they're going to want certain key markets... that they're going to want to make sure that they have special access to the American marketplace. And so that's the trade off. If I say, Look, I'll treat you incredibly kindly on the things that are really important to you, and you bring down your tariffs and give us market access. And let's find the proper place in the middle. And I think if you have the right person on the other side, what happens is, if you put a normal Trade Minister, it's an endless set of talking and no outcome, because they're used to saying, this kind of deal would take three years. Let's get this done in two years, and that's not really fun for me. So the idea is, when they put the right person in India, put the right person on the other side of the table, and we've managed, I think, to be in a very, very good place. And you should expect a deal between the United States and India in the not too distant future, because I think we found a place that really works for both countries."

--IANS

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