- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
A FORMER top commerce official in the administration of Barack Obama (2009-17) has said that the India-US Trade Policy Forum has a key role to play in deepening the understanding of each other’s positions in a non-negotiating, non-transaction-oriented setting.
Arun Kumar, who served as the assistant secretary of commerce for global markets and director general of the US and foreign commercial service in the Obama administration, welcomed the revival of the key platform to further enhance the bilateral ties between India and the US.
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Speaking about the recent visit of US trade representative Katherine Tai to India and meeting India’s commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, Kumar said, “I see the engagement as positive. It was important that face-to-face ministerial level conversations were held between the two governments.”
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Kumar, who was born in Kerala, India, is at the end of his five-year term as the chairman and chief executive officer of KPMG India, an assignment he took after completing his tenure in the Obama administration.
“The Trade Policy Forum met after four years. I had the privilege of participating in the Forum when I served in the Obama administration. I believe it is a valuable platform for constructive discussion. It has a key role to play in deepening understanding of each other’s positions in a non-negotiating, non-transaction-oriented setting,” Kumar told Press Trust of India in a recent interview.
The man, who was in Washington DC on a personal visit, said an important aspect of the talks this time is that it recognised the importance of labour and environmental standards.
“Such topics are today seen as essential elements of high-quality trade agreements. With regard to more specific issues, progress was made on market access for farm products in both directions, mangoes and pomegranates to the US, and cherries, alfalfa and pork products to India,” he said.
Responding to a question on the 11-month journey of the Joe Biden administration in the White House so far, Kumar said the good news is that trade and commerce between the US and India continue to grow.
He said that the US is India’s largest trading partner today and foreign direct investment from the US into India has been robust and growing.
Kumar said, “The visit of Ambassador Katherine Tie should be seen as a step towards creating forward movement on the policy front. The visit follows the meeting of President (Joe) Biden and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi at the White House in September that, alongside the Quad leaders meeting, focused on security, global health and climate change.
“The engagement on trade, coming within two months of the leaders’ meeting, is a signal of the importance of the economic partnership,” Kumar said.
According to Kumar, there are several areas of contention ranging from GSP (Generalised System of Preferences) to issues related to digital trade and data.
“Most important, in my view, is to address issues relating to the digital economy as the world moves at an increasing pace towards e-commerce including digital payments. Getting to the right answers will mean much for both economies, through enabling access to larger markets and creating more jobs,” he said.
