Donald Trump’s top trade adviser Lighthizer calls India “the most protectionist” country in the world in new book

Robert Lighthizer, who served as President Donald Trump’s trade representative from 2017 to 2021, served as the No trade is free: Changing course, challenging China and helping American workers An article published last year claimed he told Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting that India was “the most protectionist country in the world” and that its trade practices were hurting American farmers and leading to a huge trade deficit, while Leading to unemployment in the United States.

News18 has not independently confirmed the details of Lighthizer’s alleged conversations with Indian officials.

He also writes in the book that when he was preparing for trade negotiations with his Indian counterparts during the Trump administration, he had the biographies of 15 Indian billionaires on his desk.

In his book, he claims that while India has an “extremely powerful professional bureaucracy” in all areas of government, “oligarchs” influence government policy.

“When I was negotiating with Indian officials, I had on my desk the biographies of the country’s 15 or so billionaires. I would consider the interests of these people when predicting the Indian government’s position. I remember being told once An Indian friend who has made a fortune in business, I thought there were basically 15 oligarchs running the country. He corrected me. Bob, you are wrong. Only about seven of them actually run the country. Others One is only trying to influence seven people,” Lighthizer noted in his book.

According to a report by Robert Lighthizer hindustan timeswas considered an obstacle to constructive trade negotiations and a destroyer of India-US relations within the then Trump administration.

If Trump is re-elected, he will likely approach Robert Lighthizer again. hindustan times He also said he was likely to be offered a cabinet-level position again to handle deals.

In the book, Lighthizer acknowledged India’s strengths and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking steps to lift India out of poverty. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a particularly interesting figure. He comes from a right-wing political establishment and clearly considers himself a nationalist… He is an extremely gifted politician and a key figure in India’s independence in 1947 The first leader born after that,” he wrote.

“Modi is committed to lifting India out of poverty. He believes this can be achieved through state control of innovation, high tariffs, mercantilism and protectionism. There are many legacies of the British Raj, but free trade is not one of them One,” he further added.

Trade disputes with India, Sino-U.S. relations

Robert Lighthizer writes that the Trump administration’s strategy with India is to “maintain a good relationship” and then use its influence to “increase our access to the Indian market, achieve fairness and reciprocity in trade, and achieve balance.”

With this as a backdrop, Lighthizer shared his thoughts on why the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) system has become a key fault line between India and the United States.

Lighthizer admitted that the United States was “trying to exploit” India’s use of the GSP “duty-free program” to gain more access. “India is by far the largest user of the program. A large portion of all its imports enter the United States under this duty-free benefit. Although India uses the GSP and maintains a huge trade surplus with us, it deprives us of equality access to their markets and charge high tariffs to our producers,” he wrote.

The United States revoked India’s GSP status in June 2019. Lighthizer claimed they were trying to restore that status in exchange for better access to the Indian market. However, the Trump administration realizes that this will not happen as India does not usually open its markets and these demands were made during farmers’ protests.

Indian officials said they would show flexibility where possible and retaliate when needed, even using counter-tariffs, to defend India’s economic interests, the newspaper reported. Officials also find it challenging to deal with an administration that is erratic and changing its priorities, but they are focused on resisting Trump’s pressure as a sign of strength and commitment to the national interest.

While discussing India’s industrial policy, Lighthizer mentioned the “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiatives and said that India aims to attract more foreign investment, reduce regulations, promote exports, and protect certain industries such as electronics and communications equipment. some industries.

However, Lighthizer also claimed that India subsidizes exports through tax breaks, especially in industries such as textiles, steel and wood products

He also acknowledged the common challenges emanating from China. U.S. trade and China policy faced significant changes during the Lighthizer-Trump years, some of which have continued under the Joe Biden administration.

“Perhaps most importantly, China’s rise and growing militarism are the biggest geopolitical concerns for both our countries. Both India and China claim territorial claims over the mountain range between them. India shares our sense of Chinese aggression The rising threat. The old saying (modified for obvious reasons) holds true that the opponent of my opponent is my friend,” he further added.

Lighthizer also mentioned and praised colleagues Suresh Prabhu and Piyush Goyal in the book.

Trump’s top trade adviser thinks it would be great to have stronger economic ties with India. He considers India an important ally against China because of its educated population and large labor force. “We obviously have geopolitical reasons to do this. India is China’s natural rival. It also has a lot of well-educated, smart people and a lot of cheap labor.” He ended the part about India on a positive note.