India pulled out of the IPEF’s trade pillar-related negotiations in September last year, citing it was unclear what benefits member countries, including India, would derive from the negotiations.
While the United States (US) Trade Representative — responsible for coordinating US international trade and negotiations with other countries — shared the trade pillar’s negotiating text with 13 other IPEF partners earlier this year, being just an observer, India has not able to get access to the negotiation rounds regarding the trade pillar that kick-started thereafter, two people aware of the matter said.
The commerce department will soon take a final call on this matter, which will also involve seeking approval from the Prime Minister’s Office regarding India’s stand on this.
During the IPEF’s ministerial meetings in Singapore and Detroit, India also had bilateral meetings with other member nations, including the US, to get greater clarity on some aspects of the pillar.
IPEF has four pillars: trade, supply-chain resilience, clean economy, and fair economy (tax and anti-corruption) under the economic initiative. Except for India and Malaysia, the rest of the countries have joined all four pillars.
“However, joining the pillar later might place us at a disadvantage and we may lose out on the scope of participating in negotiations. Also, if we don’t join the trade pillar, we may be able to use it as a bargaining tool with major trading partners like the US to do a bilateral agreement,” she said.
Alternatively, last month, a civil society, comprising 32 organisations and the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not join IPEF’s trade pillar, as it would enable the entry of agritech firms into India. They said that IPEF is non-transparent and almost unilaterally designed by the US.
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