India or Israel?

During his maiden visit to India for the India-US Trade Policy Forum, US Trade Representative Michael Froman was visibly uneasy while talking about outstanding trade issues that have come up as major irritants between the two countries. At least he seemed that way when he was addressing Indian industry under the aegis of industry chamber Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Monday. During his speech Froman, who is otherwise an eloquent speaker, fumbled many times, such as referring to the US President as "Obama" and then modifying that to a respectful "President Obama". Eyebrows, however, were raised when he started to talk about "improving the business environment" and "enforcing world-class intellectual property rights regime" and how India could play a leadership role in the knowledge economy. Only, he referred to India as Israel, though he corrected himself almost immediately. Considering the West Asian nation and American client state has emerged as a major global producer of defence electronics, of which India is a major buyer, that was an interesting slip indeed.