MUMBAI, India – President Barack Obama announced a host of new trade deals with India supporting tens of thousands of American jobs yesterday as he began a ten-day trip through Asia on a determinedly domestic note.
Intent on demonstrating his attention to the sluggish American economy even while overseas, Obama also told a meeting of American and Indian executives that the United States would relax some export regulations that have complicated trade between America and this fast-growing country of 1.2 billion people.
“As we look to India today, the United States sees the opportunity to sell our exports in one of the fastest growing markets in the world.
For America, this is a jobs strategy,” the president said in a speech to the United States-India Business Council.
The remarks also were aimed at American voters who punished Democrats in the midterm elections in part over continued high unemployment.
Obama said it should be a “win-win” relationship with India, but in a nod to American sensibilities he also acknowledged concerns in the United Stated about outsourcing.
“There still exists a caricature of India as a land of call centres,” the president said.
He said people in India also are concerned about the impact of American goods coming into their country, but contended that growing trade could only benefit both sides in the long run.
He said he sees huge untapped potential in the relationship, noting that India doesn’t even rank among America’s top ten trading partners.
“There is no reason this nation can’t be one of our top trading partners,” the president said.
To that end he said the United States would seek to reform export controls that resulted from past administrations’ concerns about India’s nuclear industry.
The changes, which have been much sought-after in the business community, include relaxing controls on India’s purchase of so-called “dual use” technologies that could be used for civilian or military purposes, and removing a few of the last remaining Indian companies on a so-called “entities list” of groups that face restrictions on doing business in the United States. (AP)
