Trump’s India trip could help seal administration’s next trade deal

President Donald Trump is hoping to sign another trade deal before the 2020 election. It could be with India, if he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi can come to terms during Trump’s official trip to the country in less than two weeks.

Despite multiple attempts, the two countries’ trade teams have struggled to see eye to eye in countless meetings in Washington, New Delhi and New York held over the last 18 months yielding no results.

“I expect that the trade deal—which has been previewed for months, but apparently at last reaching a conclusion—will be a major focus of the visit,” Alyssa Ayres, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations said in an interview.

Experts say the constructs of the trade agreement — and whether it can even be called a trade deal — will be determined by the outcome of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s trip to India this week.

Defense, energy, medical devices and agriculture are among the items said to be on the table, according to Eurasia analyst Akhil Beri.

The New York Times reported on Monday that India was preparing to buy U.S. military helicopters from Lockheed Martin for $2.6 billion ahead of Trump’s visit. Since Modi was elected, the country has been steadily increasing its purchases of U.S. defense equipment.

“[Defense] been an area of significant progress in the relationship,” said Ayres.

In exchange for the purchase of 24 Seahawk helicopters, Jonah Blank of Rand Corp. expects that the U.S. may roll back tariffs on select American exports.

“The main deliverables are likely to include announcements of Indian purchases of US military hardware, particularly a $2.6 billion deal for 24 Seahawk (MH-60R) helicopters; in return, the US may announce a year (or more) of duty-free waivers for some of the 2,000 products on which it levied tariffs last year,” Blank said to CNBC.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/12/trump-india-visit-could-help-seal-next-trade-deal.html