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Press Trust of India

Widespread discrimination by India against US exports: NAM

February 15, 2014

Also seen in: Economic Times

WASHINGTON: Widespread discrimination against US export continue even as India put on hold some of its contentious policies, a top American manufacturing advocacy group today said.

“While some discriminatory policies have been put on hold, these actions have not resulted in an end to the widespread discrimination against exports from the United States,” said Linda Dempsey, vice president of National Association of Manufacturers ( NAM) testifying before the US International Trade Commission (USITC).

USITC, a quasi-judicial federal agency, for the second day this week, conducted a hearing in connection with its investigation ‘Trade, Investment, and Industrial Policies in India: Effects on the US Economy’ as asked by US lawmakers.

Dempsey said while taking some positive steps, India has continued to expand its industrial policies to other products and sectors.

“Urgent solutions are needed,” she said. Noting that US manufacturers have long been partners in India’s growth and development, she alleged over the last two years, she has seen a damaging pattern of actions in India that are discriminating against a wide array of products and putting at risk a bilateral trading relationship worth over USD 60 billion in 2012.

“Through discriminatory industrial policies implemented by a wide array of means, India is systematically blocking imports and forcing the local production of everything – from automobiles, textiles and steel to high-tech, clean energy equipment, medicines and medical devices.

“These policies serve to favour India’s domestic corporations at the expense of manufacturing and jobs in the United States and elsewhere,” Dempsey said.