Amid the continued turbulence at the world stage that has put pressure on economies of several nations, the United States has decided to give a priority to its national interest and will learn the lessons from its "China mistake", said US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said on Thursday. He made the remarks while speaking at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.
According to Landau, the US is focusing on its interests. However, he explained that "America First does not mean America alone". In his remarks, he further said that the US aims to expand and deepen the ties with India but that should be reciprocity and "fair" to the American people.
The US deputy secretary of the state said President Donald Trump wants to make America great again and he wants every world leader, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to make their countries great again.
"India should understand that we're not going to make the same mistakes with India that we made with China 20 years ago in terms of saying, oh, we're going to let you be able to develop all these markets, and then the next thing we know, you're beating us in a lot of commercial things," Landau said.
India-US trade deal
The framework for the interim trade agreement was finalised between India and the US was announced earlier this year. As per the agreement, the US has reduced reciprocal tariffs on India to 18 per cent from 25 per cent, and also removed the 25 per cent tariffs that it had imposed for procuring Russia crude oil.
The agreement also stated that India would reduce or eliminate tariffs on all US industrial goods and a broad range of food and agricultural products. The Indian government has said that the interim trade agreement will likely be signed in March and will come into effect in April. It has also said that India's interests were protected while signing the agreement with the US.
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