US Won't Grant India China-Like Economic Advantages in Trade Deal

In New Delhi on March 5, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau stated that the United States would not grant India the same economic advantages it extended to China two decades ago, as the two nations near the completion of a bilateral trade agreement.

Landau made the remarks during a speech at the Raisina Dialogue, India's premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics. He emphasized the need for fairness in economic relations, drawing lessons from the U.S. experience with China. "We are not going to make the same mistakes with India that we made with China 20 years ago in terms of saying, 'You will be able to develop all these markets.' Then the next thing we know, you are beating us in many commercial things," Landau said. "We are going to make sure that whatever we do is fair to our people."

The comments come amid ongoing negotiations for a trade deal that have lasted more than a year, initiated after President Donald Trump returned to office. Last month, the U.S. reduced tariffs on Indian goods, lowering the base reciprocal tariff from 25 percent to 18 percent and eliminating an additional 25 percent penalty tied to India's purchases of Russian oil. Officials...