CPI(M) flags ‘serious threats’ to economy, agriculture from Indo-US trade deal

New Delhi: CPI(M) on Sunday described the Indo-US trade deal as an "attack on national sovereignty" and the "sweeping" concessions given to the United States pose "serious threats" to the economy and agriculture.

In a statement, the party Polit Bureau demanded that the complete details of the deal be placed immediately before Parliament. The government must be compelled to desist from signing any agreement that is harmful to the interests of workers, farmers, and the people at large, it said.

"As details of the Indo–US trade deal slowly emerge, it is becoming evident that the BJP-led Union government has made sweeping concessions to the United States in the so-called ‘interim deal’. These concessions pose a serious threat to India’s economy, agriculture, and national sovereignty," it said.

The CPI(M) said the US is dictating policies, including decisions on purchase of oil from Russia. This is a “shameful surrender” by the BJP-led government, it said.

It warned that the government agreeing not to levy any tariff on US exports of fruits, cotton, tree nuts, soybean oil, and certain other food and agricultural products will "severely damage" the livelihoods of lakhs of apple growers, cotton and soy farmers across the country.

The CPI(M) recalled that the apple farmers in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and other states are already suffering due to trade agreements signed earlier with countries like New Zealand.

"The present deal with the US will further destroy their livelihoods. Cotton farmers, already burdened by rising input costs and deepening agrarian distress, will face similar devastation," it said.

On the agreement to non-tariff barriers on food and agricultural products, the CPI(M) said that this would effectively mean a rollback of support and subsidies for farmers, exposing them to competition from heavily subsidised US farm products and making Indian agriculture increasingly unviable.

“It is highly deplorable that the government has committed to increasing its dependence on US defence supplies, which will be detrimental to India’s strategic interests,” it added.