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Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the government must state categorically that there will be no import liberalisation till clear cut clarifications from the American side and ensure that Indian farmers’ interests are not hurt.
Speaking with reporters in New Delhi, Ramesh sought clarifications from the government on the India-US interim trade deal and called for renegotiating the deal afresh. He asked Modi to clarify whether he agrees with Trump’s statement that nothing changes in the trade deal with India.
Asserting that the India-US interim agreement will adversely affect farmers, Ramesh said the government should put this deal on hold till clarifications are made.
“We demand that the PM should categorically state that we will not carry out import liberalisation after the Supreme Court decision as there is a rethink in India’s policy and we will not carry out import liberalisation till clarifications are made,” Ramesh said.
“On February 2, President Trump made the announcement of the deal stating that he is happy that a deal has been reached and on the request of the PM this is effective immediately,” he said, adding that the chronology of events is important.
The first question arises is why did the PM was in a hurry to announce this, he said.
“We believe that this was connected with Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in the Lok Sabha, raising the issue of China and former Army chief Naravane’s book. We believe that in order to divert from that, PM Modi requested Trump to announce this,” Ramesh said.
The US Supreme Court on Saturday struck down Trump’s global tariffs, saying it is against the American Constitution, Ramesh said.
“Our second question is that when the PM, the commerce minister (Piyush Goyal), knew from December that any time (now) the Supreme Court verdict could come, many believed that it could be struck down. Why did you hurriedly strike a deal when you knew the verdict could go against Trump,” Ramesh said.
The 10 per cent tariff would be imposed on imports and as per law this will be for 150 days, he said.
“Trump has also stated that nothing changes for the Indo-US trade deal. So we want to ask the PM, does he agree with his friend’s statement that the verdict will have no impact on the deal,” Ramesh said.
The framework states that in the event of any changes from either side, the US and India agree that they can modify its commitments, Ramesh pointed out.
