One-sided deal: Opposition pounds on Modi govt over India-US trade deal with senior MPs

Akhilesh Yadav claimed that while 'invisible people' will benefit from the Budget, the government has forgotten the poor, Dalits, minorities and women.

New Delhi: Opposition on Tuesday pounded on the Modi government over the India-US trade deal with senior MPs claiming that it looked like "pre-committed purchase agreement" that overturns every principle of reciprocity and a "one-sided" deal that hurts the agriculture sector as imports will hit farming.

Initiating the general discussion on union budget in Lok Sabha, senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the government's claim that it is a "better deal" than China, Vietnam and other Asian countries do not stand, as no east Asian economy has agreed to "deliberately dilute" its trade surplus with the US through guaranteed purchase commitments.

Asking how could one speak of a "reciprocal tariff" of 18% on one side and 0 per cent on the other, he said, "it looks less like a free trade arrangement and more like a pre-committed purchase agreement that overturns every principle of reciprocity."

He said the government has surprisingly promised to buy Rs 45,29,267 crore ($500 billion) worth of American goods over five years at a time when India's total bilateral trade with the US stands at roughly Rs 11,77,475 crore ($130 billion) and a trade surplus of nearly Rs 4,07,621 crore ($45 billion).

"No major economy has ever neutralised its own trade leverage in this manner. While the US continues to impose import tariffs of up to 18% on Indian exports, we have committed ourselves to lower tariffs to near-zero levels, open agriculture, dilute data localisation, soften intellectual-property safeguards, and even redirect strategic energy imports, especially away from Russia, to meet purchase targets. This is not strategic balancing; it is economic pre-emption," he said.

He also said Parliament has neither been told how farmers, MSMEs, and the domestic industry will be protected nor why India has "voluntarily surrendered" its negotiating power without securing proportional market access or policy space in return.

However, senior BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi described the Budget as "pragmatic, pro-people and balanced", as the it reflected the central government's "commitment, conviction and consistency" for the "welfare" of people and "overall growth" of the country.

She congratulated Prime Minister Modi for concluding nine trade deals and said it was a reflection that the government is capable of navigating a difficult world with conviction.

Samajwadi Party floor leader Akhilesh Yadav said the trade deal with the US was "one-sided" and it will hurt the farming community as also the prospects of the industry and push back the 'Made in India' and 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' initiatives.

Calling the budget "directionless", as it "does not help" in fulfilling the dreams of a developed India by 2047, he warned that the trade deal would flood Indian markets with US agri products and the farmers will have nothing to grow in their fields.

He claimed that while "invisible people" will benefit from the Budget, the government has forgotten the poor, Dalits, minorities and women.

Trinamool Congress' Abhishek Banerjee claimed that the Budget was draining the poor through taxation and inflation while rewarding the rich with concessions and privileges.

He said the trade deal with the US opens Indian markets to heavily subsidised American farm produce. "It may benefit American farmers, but it will depress prices, destroy competitiveness, and further marginalise Indian farmers. This is an abandonment of our annadata," he said.

Referring to US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins' remarks that the US will export more American farm produce to India’s massive market, he asked, "if our government disagrees, where is the disapproval? Where is the protest? The silence is telling."

(With PTI inputs)