The government has done well to rebuff American efforts to pressure India to sign the Trade Facilitation Agreement in the WTO forum that would make it easier for Western goods to enter our market without the United States and Europe showing sufficient concern for the plight of those in India who need subsidised food.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was forthright when he made it clear to visiting US secretary of state John Kerry on Friday that while he believed that the TFA was good for India, the needs of those living on the margins had to be addressed. He might have added that there is national consensus here on this matter.
It was indeed audacious of the senior US official to tell the Prime Minister that the failure to clinch the TFA in Geneva on Thursday due to India’s unyielding commitment to supplying food to the needy at subsidised rates would “undermine” the NDA’s pro-business image.
We need to decipher if there was an implied threat there? Was Mr Kerry signalling that Mr Modi’s trip to the US in September might turn out less fruitful than he might wish for if New Delhi does not respond positively to Western imperatives on questions relating to world trade? It is time leading Western powers were reminded that gunboat diplomacy as a concept is long past its sell-by date.
Carrying forward the message conveyed to Mr Kerry by the PM, our economic policymakers will need to redouble efforts to ensure food security for the needy.
