India holds firm in trade talks with the US as agriculture emerges as red line |
India has once again drawn a clear boundary in its ongoing trade negotiations with the United States, refusing to open its vast agricultural market to American products despite mounting pressure from Washington. Government sources speaking on December 15 confirmed that New Delhi remains unwavering on agriculture, viewing the sector as inseparable from rural livelihoods, food security, and domestic political stability. While both sides continue to express optimism about reaching a broader trade agreement, the standoff over farm access highlights the deeper structural and strategic tensions shaping India–US economic relations.
At the heart of the dispute lies India’s insistence that agriculture cannot be treated like other commercial sectors. Unlike defense procurement, clean energy cooperation, or liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports-areas where India has signaled readiness to make concessions-farming remains politically and socially sensitive. Nearly half of India’s population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture, making any move that exposes farmers to heavily subsidized foreign competition politically risky and economically disruptive.
According to officials familiar with the negotiations, India may consider marginally increasing imports of US rice, a concession viewed as symbolic rather than substantive. Such imports, they argue, would not materially affect Indian farmers due to India’s own massive rice production and export capacity. However, beyond this limited flexibility, New Delhi has made it clear that broader agricultural liberalization is off the table.
India’s resistance reflects long-standing concerns about asymmetries in global agricultural trade. American farmers benefit from extensive government subsidies, advanced technology, and........