{"id":35965,"date":"2023-06-20T12:08:13","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T06:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=35965"},"modified":"2025-04-21T13:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T08:23:10","slug":"at-the-heart-of-indiausa-ties-economics-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/at-the-heart-of-indiausa-ties-economics-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"At the Heart of India\u2013USA Ties: Economics &#038; Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>India-US Bilateral Trade Relationship<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>India-US Strategic Relationship<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Challenges\/Issues w.r.t. India-US Relationship<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Prime Minister <strong>Narendra Modi<\/strong> has headed to the United States for an official state visit on the invitation of President <strong>Joe Biden<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>At the heart of the Indo-US strategic partnership is the deepening economic engagement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>India&#8217;s largest trading partner is the US<\/strong> and it is also one of the few countries with which India had a trade surplus in 2022-23.\n<ul>\n<li>For the US, India is the ninth largest trading partner.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>India&#8217;s major exports to the US include gems and jewelry, pharmaceutical products, light crude oil and petroleum, electrical and electronics goods, engineering products, apparel, frozen marine products, and others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>India-US Bilateral Trade Relationship<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/njmotv-OZYiKqflPFmdaTJYdKa5LF9X8fx84-dDSaiu6Jp299Wb238puiDKWVKr5ASKqwJjBp3VhW3siJnhT5_4dDm7vVajCKe2WEt4-okwS8LJjbA7Inc3sXMX3HdSaHT57YlR0bbFN\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: India-US Bilateral Trade Relationship<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2022-23, the bilateral trade between India and the USA stood at a record <strong>US$ 191 billion<\/strong> as against US$ 119.42 billion in 2021-22.<\/li>\n<li>In 2021-22, <strong>India had a trade surplus of US$ 32.8 billion with the US<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>American companies have invested around US$ 60 billion in India in sectors ranging from manufacturing to telecommunications and consumer goods to aerospace.<\/li>\n<li>And Indian companies have put in more than US$ 40 billion in sectors such as IT, pharmaceuticals, and green energy.<\/li>\n<li>In February, <strong>Air India announced the purchase of more than 200 Boeing aircrafts<\/strong> \u2014 a deal which is said to be the largest order placed by an airline in one go anywhere in the world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>India-US Strategic Relationship<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The two governments are <strong>pursuing more than 50 bilateral dialogue mechanisms <\/strong>at various levels.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Quadrilateral Security Dialogue \u2013<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Quad began as a broad partnership after the <strong>2004 Indian Ocean tsunami<\/strong>, but gained strategic heft after the four-country grouping, which has <strong>Australia<\/strong> and <strong>Japan<\/strong> alongside <strong>India<\/strong> and the <strong>US<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It was repurposed in 2017, primarily <strong>as a counter to China\u2019s growing influence in the Indian Ocean rim<\/strong>, and as a forum for redoubling focus on the Indo-Pacific region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>I2U2 \u2013<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The I2U2 is a grouping of <strong>India<\/strong>, <strong>Israel<\/strong>, the <strong>US<\/strong> and the <strong>United Arab Emirates<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It is focused on joint investments and new initiatives in water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) \u2013<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>This January, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his US counterpart Jake Sullivan launched a new US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies.<\/li>\n<li>These emerging technologies include <strong>artificial intelligence<\/strong>, <strong>quantum computing<\/strong>, <strong>semiconductors<\/strong> and <strong>wireless telecommunication<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Challenges\/Issues w.r.t. India-US Relationship<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>US still has significant export controls on India<\/strong> (instituted after the 1998 nuclear test), which inhibits the free transfer of technology.<\/li>\n<li>Among the outstanding trade issues that require resolution are <strong>visa delays<\/strong> and the <strong>revoking of India\u2019s trade benefits<\/strong> under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme in 2019.\n<ul>\n<li>The US has complained about India\u2019s trade policy being overly protectionist, especially with regard to entry barriers for foreign investment and unsteady legal rules.<\/li>\n<li>India has been raising tariffs over the last few years, reversing an earlier policy of lowering tariffs that endured for decades.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>India will likely be pursued to join the trade pillar of the US-led <strong>Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>India has signed up for three pillars of the IPEF \u2014 committed to building more resilient supply chains, tapping clean energy opportunities, and combating corruption.<\/li>\n<li>However, it has opted out of the fourth pillar (trade) citing reservations about the commitments required on environment, labour, digital trade, and public procurement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>There is growing disquiet within sections of the Union government over India not finding an entry into the <strong>Minerals Security Partnership (MSP).<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>MSP is a US-led partnership to secure supply chains of critical minerals that is aimed at reducing dependency on China.<\/li>\n<li>The MSP is learnt to have weighed the possibility of collaborative work on some 150-odd projects and shortlisted a dozen where members are likely to commence work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India-U.S. trade relations have developed into a &#8220;<strong>global strategic partnership<\/strong>&#8220;, based on shared democratic values and increasing convergence of interests on bilateral, regional, and global issues.<\/li>\n<li>Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, India-U.S. cooperation witnessed intense engagement under various bilateral dialogue mechanisms in a wide range of areas such as \u2013\n<ul>\n<li>defence, security, health, trade, economic, science &amp; technology, energy, and people-to-people ties.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>PM Modi\u2019s visit to the US is expected to give India access to critical American technologies the US rarely shares with non-allies<\/u><\/strong>, strengthening a new bond that is underpinned by not just global politics but also business and economics.<\/li>\n<li>Major announcements expected during PM Modi&#8217;s visit are \u2013\n<ul>\n<li>U.S. approval to General Electric (GE) to manufacture engines in India for its domestically produced fighter jets,<\/li>\n<li>India&#8217;s purchase of 31 armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones made by General Atomics worth $3 billion, and<\/li>\n<li>Removal of U.S. obstacles that prevent smoother trade in defence and high technology.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What does \u2018strategic relationship\u2019 between two nations mean?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A &#8216;strategic relationship&#8217;, as the term suggests, involves a shared understanding between the two or more states involved on the nature of threats in the environment and the place of their collective power in helping mitigate the threats.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What are India\u2019s major export items?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The top exports of India are Refined Petroleum ($49B), Diamonds ($26.3B), Packaged Medicaments ($19.2B), Jewellery ($10.7B), and Rice ($10B), exporting mostly to United States ($71.2B), United Arab Emirates ($25.4B), China ($23.1B), Bangladesh ($14.1B), and Hong Kong ($11.2B).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-economics\/narendra-modi-us-visit-at-the-heart-of-indo-us-ties-economics-strategy-8673554\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>At the heart of Indo-US ties: Economics &amp; Strategy<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/blog\/expanding-us-india-trade-cooperation-more-important-narrow-dialogues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>CFR.ORG<\/u><\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi has headed to the United States for an official state visit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}