Late last month, India torpedoed a deal to simplify, standardise and streamline the rules for shipping goods across borders, know as 'trade facilitation', after it demanded concessions on agricultural stockpiling.
India is unlikely to join the ongoing negotiations for a plurilateral deal on e-commerce at the World Trade Organization (WTO), notwithstanding a change in stance on data localisation and cross-border flow of data. Under the new draft digital personal data protection (DPDP) Bill, put out on Friday for public consultation, the government has proposed free cross-border flow of data with 'friendly' nations, significantly easing its earlier stance on data localisation. India has so far stayed out of a group of 87 countries, including the US, European Union, China, and Japan that are negotiating trade-related aspects on e-commerce since December 2017.
A step away from nuclear weapons being used in conflicts, warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Barack Obama is the worst US president as far as outsourcing is concerned, says Jagdish Bhagwati.
The first meeting of Trade Negotiating Committee on signing a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement started in Kuala Lumpur.
The first phase of the trade deal includes IP protection and enforcement, ending forced technology transfer, dramatic expansion of American agriculture, removing barriers to American financial services, ending currency manipulation, rebalancing the US-China trade relationship and effective dispute resolution.
Trump said the relationship with both India as well as the country's Prime Minister Modi "is great".
The free trade agreement (FTA) talks with India are no longer working towards a Diwali deadline though negotiations are progressing well, UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch has said as New Delhi expressed confidence on Friday of an "early date" for a mutually beneficial deal. "There are ongoing negotiations as we know on the FTA. There is interest on both sides to see if we can work towards a deal, an FTA, that is beneficial to both the countries at an early date," external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters in New Delhi. It came as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his UK counterpart, James Cleverly, and referenced the Roadmap 2030 bilateral agreement signed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former UK PM Boris Johnson in May last year, with no specific reference to the FTA.
Experts attributed the inflows to sudden rally in gold prices, mainly due to uneasy trade negotiations between the US and China and lower than expected global GDP growth.
The Israeli government on Sunday approved the appointment of Reuven Azar as the new Ambassador to India.
Among the current FTAs with significant trade deficits for India, five are with countries from the 10-nation Asean bloc. Exports to the 10 economies stood at $ 37.4 billion in 2018-19, up by 9% year on year. On the other hand, imports were higher at $ 59.31 billion, up by 25% from the previous year's $ 47.13 billion.
India has offered further pruning of its negative list of 560 items for Association of South East Asian Nations on which there will be no duty cuts
India will not tailor its policies to suit US EV maker Tesla, and its laws and tariff rules will be formulated to attract all-electric vehicle manufacturers from across the world to set up a base in the world's fastest-growing economy, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said. Tesla has been seeking an initial tariff concession that would allow it to offset 70 per cent customs duty for cars priced less than $40,000, and 100 per cent for cars of higher value.
In a major development, India and the US have agreed to end six trade disputes at the WTO through mutually agreed solutions, while New Delhi will remove retaliatory customs duties on certain American products such as almonds, walnuts, and apples.
The trigger that led Japan and the Philippines to ink the deal was because of the deteriorating security situation in the South China Sea. China's coast guard increased the frequency and intensity of incursions into Philippine waters, provoking the Philippines to take countermeasures to deter China, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
"We are very much engaged in trying to pursue a ambitious agreement for the Doha Round. We're engaged bilaterally with major trading partners. We're engaged in the multilateral process in Geneva. We're engaged plural laterally with various groupings of countries," US Deputy National Security Advisor Mike Froman
Kings XI Punjab traded Ravichandran Ashwin to Delhi Capitals for Rs 1.5 crore and Karnataka spinner Jagadeesha Suchith.
It became increasingly clear that the real negotiations the government had to conduct were with Indian business which was wary of yet another free trade agreement, points out T N Ninan.
Though it was not formally declared at the Doha trade negotiations committee meeting today, it is privately admitted that the 2010 deadline will not be achieved, several trade envoys and senior officials told Business Standard.
The WTO mini-ministerial scheduled to be held later this month to break the impasse on crucial farm and industrial tariff negotiations has been called off.
Bangladesh provides huge business opportunties in different sectors and Indian companies should explore areas of investments, Bangladesh Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said on Tuesday. He said that government policies in Bangladesh are in favour of businesses. "Please do come and invest in Bangladesh," Munshi said in New Delhi while addressing businesses of both the countries.
Adopted after nearly two weeks of hectic negotiations, the first Global Stocktake deal, being termed the UAE consensus, urges countries to accelerate efforts toward the phase-down of unabated coal power, which is a climb down after India and China strongly resisted the singling out of coal.
There have been several occasions when workers have raised an industrial dispute with employers demanding compensation for being retrenched due to continued illness
India has expressed disappointment over the first draft text for the forthcoming World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong
The United States is creating a new strategic framework for the 21st century and its Trans-Pacific Partnership is just one of the pillars of the new edifice, says Sanjaya Baru.
'In the Asean market, the train left at the same time for India and China, but while India's ride has been symbolic of India's rickety railways, it seems that China's has been on a bullet train,' note Renjini V R, Manmeet Ajmani and Devesh Roy.
When asked about the possibility of talks getting extended for another day, World Trade Organization spokesperson Keith Rockwell said: "The concept of time is flexible in WTO."
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has raised India's long-standing concerns about pro-Khalistan extremism in the United Kingdom during his meetings with the country's leaders, stressing that they should be on guard against the misuse of freedom of expression and speech.
Political rather than purely economic concerns govern negotiations with other countries and regions, write Bipul Chatterjee & Purna Chandra Jena.
Talks not to resume till the island nation expedites revision of double-taxation avoidance agreement.
During the meeting, the US said it will not add new tariffs on Chinese exports, China's state -run China Daily reported.
The agreement could substantially reduce transaction times and costs and would unlock new opportunities for both rich and poor countries.
Yes Bank topped the gainers' list on the Sensex. It was followed by HDFC, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, L&T, SBI, Axis Bank and Kotak Bank -- rallying up to 5.24 per cent.
US and European Union negotiators are inching towards a deal that could restart stalled world trade talks but any agreement is contingent to reciprocal concessions by India and Brazil.
'I found it unbelievable that L&T said 45,000 jobs were waiting to be filled because of unavailability of suitable skillsets.' 'So, when the Opposition sweepingly says there are no jobs, I'm sorry... I'm not saying it's raining jobs, but there are jobs. The (skill) gap has to be bridged.'
President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans came no closer to ending a standoff on Tuesday that has forced the first government shutdown in 17 years.
As police cordoned off landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and government agencies stopped cancer treatments and trade negotiations, Republicans in the House of Representatives moved to restore funding to national parks, veterans care and the District of Columbia.
