India Opts Out of Trade Partnership With US Led IPEF Group

Indian Minister Piyush Goyal in Los Angeles at the ministerial meeting hosted by the US. 

LOS ANGELES, CA (ANI) – The first-in-person Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) ministerial summit concluded here on September 9 with a consensus from the partner countries on ministerial statements for each of the four IPEF pillars: trade, supply chain, clean economy and fair economy.  

Secretary of Commerce Gina M Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai hosted counterparts from the 13 IPEF partner countries – representing over 40 percent of the global economy – at the first official in-person ministerial meeting.  Through IPEF, the partners aim to contribute to cooperation, stability, prosperity, development, and peace within the region.

Our first in-person meeting has been an undeniable success, Raimondo said in a joint statement with Tai.

India meanwhile is demurring on its stance. An Indian official on September 9 said that India stands for its independent trade policy and added that before going ahead with joining the trade pillar of IPEF New Delhi will observe the pros and cons of the binding commitments. Tai confirmed that India will not be joining the trade pillar, one of the four pillars of the framework.
“India is not now in the trade pillar of IPEF, Union Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal and I have been talking a lot,” she said.
“There are some binding commitments that have been laid out by the United States and India is being cautious” the official added, “India stands on its own feet, we have our own independent policy. We will be observing the pros and cons of the binding commitments and then take a call when the details of binding commitments are shared with us in the months ahead.”
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said that a robust Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity is being proposed to be presented soon in Parliament, and India will take its decisions on different aspects based on national interest.
Goyal said that India is a big provider of technology services to US companies and a robust framework is being proposed to be presented to Parliament soon. “India is looking to have contemporary and modern laws in the digital world while maintaining high levels of data privacy,” he added.
He said that within the framework, “we can begin engaging among member countries on different areas of mutual interest. India will take its decisions on different aspects of the IPEF framework based on our national interest.”
“We had a useful engagement among member countries of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity. Officials have worked to prepare the ground for useful interactions between ministers. By tomorrow we hope to create a robust framework,” Goyal said.
“I’ve also had the opportunity to have bilateral discussions with USTR Ambassador Tai and US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Both were very excited about the good work happening between India and US,” Goyal said.”They were extremely favorable to expanding ties in trade and investments including hi-tech areas. They were also wishing to further resilient supply chains between India and US,” he added.