NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Would India be open to additional trade with the west and with the United States? Possibly, over time, according to Raj Bhala, Brenneisen Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Kansas.
"I think it depends on the expectation level on both sides, whether India would enter into a free trade agreement with the United States," Bhala said. "If the United States expects market access for goods and services in as comprehensive a way as the U.S. has with Canada and Mexico under NAFTA 1.0 and now under NAFTA 2.0, the USMCA, that's not going to happen."
India does have a legitimate concern about protecting its millions of small and medium sized shops and companies and also its farmers, who operate on much smaller plot sizes than American farmers.
"American expectations for grand market access can intersect with Indian concerns about protecting certain sectors, especially sectors that involve a lot of employment, namely agriculture and autos, by having long phase in periods," Bhala said.
By long, Bhala is talking not years, but decades, potentially. Why is it worth U.S. time and effort?
"The big benefit, obviously, is that 1.4 billion person market, which continues to grow," Bhala said. "As we just saw last week, the Chinese population has declined for the second year in a row. China is not the growing market. It is India."
Between those facts and the more palatable democratic structure of Indian government, as opposed to China's communist regime, it is likely worth additional exploration to find areas where the Indian growing need for goods matches areas where the United States can become the provider of choice for things India cannot get domestically.
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