Report: Deputy USTR Says India Needs to Move Quickly to Fix Trade Relationship With US

In order to get back in America's good graces, India needs to do more than open its market to American dairy and pay medical device companies fairly, according to Jeffrey Gerrish, deputy U.S. trade representative. Those were the trade irritants that led to India's suspension from the Generalized System of Preferences, but at a U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum leadership summit event July 11, Gerrish said the two countries need to "move beyond" the issues behind the GSP review to a more comprehensive reckoning.

"The president and the ambassador [U.S. Trade Representative Robert] Lighthizer have been frustrated with the lack of balance and reciprocity in the trade relationship. I think, we are at a pivotal juncture here in our relationship," said Gerrish, according to a report from the Press Trust of India news agency. Gerrish said a delegation of USTR officials who are in India now are not negotiating. "They're just there to lay out the full amount and full slate of issues that we have to try to see if this new Indian government has the willingness and the wherewithal to address these issues and resolve them," he said.

According to the report, Gerrish did not directly answer a question about whether the U.S. would bring a Section 301 action against India, but he warned that India needs to move quickly and not drag things out, because the Trump administration will have no patience for that.