India-US trade not hit by regime changes: Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal

India’s economic integration with the US has been growing for more than two decades now, irrespective of the regime in America, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Thursday.

 

According to data compiled by the commerce department, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the US’s imports from India stood at 10.48 per cent during 2001-2023. On the other hand, US’s overall import growth rate from the world grew at a CAGR of only 4.76 per cent during the same period.

 

During this period, administrations led by Presidents from both the major US political parties — two from the Democrats and two from the Republicans — oversaw policies that, directly or indirectly, facilitated this trade growth, reflecting bipartisan support for economic engagement with India, Barthwal told reporters. Besides, the two countries have strongly integrated with each other through various agreements, including the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and other bilateral mechanisms, he added.

 

 

Barthwal's comment comes against the backdrop of Republican Party candidate Donald Trump winning the Presidential race in the US, triggering discussions over a possible escalation in trade tensions with India, his anti-China stance, and a shift towards his “America First” policy. 

 

According to Barthwal, India is “waiting and watching” how things will unfold in the future as far as the US-China relationship is concerned.

 

Since 2001, the US has shown a steady and growing demand for goods from India, with imports rising significantly. In 2001, the US’s imports from India stood at $9.7 billion, representing just 0.9 per cent of its total global imports. By 2023, the figure stood at $87.3 billion, making up 2.8 per cent of the US’s imports from the world.

 

Whether India would ask for the proposed mini-trade deal, which was discussed during Trump 1.0, the secretary said that presently the President-elect is building his team and once that team is in place, there will be policy pronouncements from them and based on that “we will be also taking a call”.

 

The US is India’s largest trade partner and export destination. It is also India’s fourth-largest source of imported goods. During the financial year 2023-24, the size of the trade between both nations stood at nearly $120 billion. The trade balance has been in favour of India, with a surplus of $35.3 billion. However, during his previous tenure as the President — from 2017 to 2021 — Trump had expressed his concerns over the trade surplus, citing that India was not importing enough from the US.

 

Additional Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said that in the services area also, India's exports and imports have registered healthy growth with the US.

 

China top source of import

 

China was India's top import source with $56.29 billion worth of inbound shipments during the first seven months of the current financial year (FY25), commerce department data showed. The imports from China grew 9.8 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) during April-October. During the period, the top 10 import sources of India were China, Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the US, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Korea, Switzerland, and Singapore, the data showed. However, exports to China witnessed 9.4 per cent contraction at $8.06 billion amid a slowdown in the neighbouring country.