India is not negotiating a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States at present, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal informed Parliament last week. He also said India has challenged a ruling of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) dispute settlement panel, which held that certain provisions of the domestic export incentive initiatives are inconsistent with global trade norms.

“No, Sir. Presently, India is not negotiating a comprehensive FTA with the US,” Goyal said in a written reply to the parliament upper house. Both the countries are negotiating a trade deal which is likely to be signed during US President Donald Trump’s visit to India later this month.

However, due to lack of quorum in the appellate body of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, “there is no progress in this case”, he said.

India remains committed to resolving the crisis in the appellate body in close consultation with like-minded WTO members, however, the outcome of India’s efforts to resolve the crisis in the body cannot be anticipated at this stage, he added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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