Can Modi And Trump Hug And Make Up?

Indo-US relations have seen some turbulence of late on trade and strategic issues. But as the two sides prepare to negotiate, top diplomats signal a new phase of give and take

- Raj Chengappa

What happens when estranged partners want to signal where their relationship is finally headed? Either they send chocolates and appropriate WhatApp emojis to each other to indicate they want to kiss and make up. Or they harden their stand over differences and head to the courts to formalise the separation.

Till a week ago, relations between India and the US resembled those of a couple heading for a messy divorce. On May 31, a day after Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister for a second term, United States president Donald Trump chose to play spoilsport. He announced he was going ahead with his order to withdraw the preferential tariffs that India had enjoyed under the US’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). His reason? The Modi government had not “ assured the United States that India will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets”. India had been a beneficiary of the GSP programme from 1976; in 2018, it covered $6.3 billion, or 12 per cent of the goods exported to the US. Though the duty concessions availed under it amounted to only $240 million last year, the withdrawal of GSP privileges, which came into effect on June 5, will affect the competitiveness of some 1,900 products India exports under the system.