India and US resolve final WTO dispute, strengthen bilateral trade relations

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden held bilateral talks on September 8 ahead of the start of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi.

Hours after US President Joe Biden arrived in the national capital Delhi on September 9 to participate in the G20 Summit, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a joint statement released by India and the United States announced the settlement of the seventh and final outstanding World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute between the two nations.

"The leaders lauded the settlement of the seventh and last outstanding World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute between India and the United States. This follows the unprecedented settlement of six outstanding bilateral trade disputes in the WTO in June 2023," the statement read.

This statement followed a closed-door meeting between US President Biden, accompanied by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Prime Minister Modi upon their arrival.

With this development, the only remaining issue of the poultry case has also been resolved. In 2015, India lost a long-pending dispute over poultry imports from the US at the WTO's dispute settlement body. India had 12 months to comply with the WTO order, and the US had sought trade sanctions against India in this case.

This recent development comes only months after India and the US resolved six out of the total seven disputes during the Indo-US state visit of PM Modi between June 21 and June 23 earlier this year.

"India and the US, by the end of this year, will have no disputes. All the six major ones have already been resolved," stated Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal during a press conference on June 26.

Of the six terminated trade disputes, three had been filed by India: "Certain Measures Relating to Solar Cells and Solar Modules," "Export-Related Measures," and "Additional Duties on Certain Products from the United States." The other three disputes were filed by the US: "Countervailing Measures on Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from India," "Certain Measures Relating to the Renewable Energy Sector," and "Certain Measures on Steel and Aluminium Products."

This development occurs at a time when trade between the two countries has reached a record high, and the US has become India's largest trading partner.

According to provisional data from the Commerce Ministry, bilateral trade between India and the US increased by 7.65 percent to $128.55 billion in 2022-23, up from $119.5 billion in 2021-22, and $80.51 billion in 2020-21.

The issue of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) still remains unresolved. In 2019, the US withdrew India's preferential tariff benefits under the GSP, a US trade preference program providing opportunities to specific countries to boost their trade.

Following the US-India meeting in June, the two nations agreed to discuss New Delhi's demand for the restoration of GSP benefits to domestic exporters. Commerce Minister Goyal mentioned that India and the US would engage in a dialogue on this issue. However, the final decision on whether to restore India's GSP status will be made by the US Congress.