India to monitor U.S. ag import trade barriers

India to monitor U.S. ag import trade barriers    Tensions between trade officials in India and the United States seem to be simmering as India said last week it intends to closely monitor obstacles its exporters face in accessing U.S. markets, according to a report Friday in the Washington Post.
   The inquiry seems to be an eye-for-an-eye response to the U.S. International Trade Commission's investigation into the effects of Indian farm trade barriers on U.S. exports. That inquiry was prompted in January by the Senate Finance Committee's worries that U.S. agricultural exporters were getting short shrift in India.
   “We are collating information from various industries to prepare a list of American non-tariff barriers to Indian exports. There are many subtle, sophisticated ways in which America stalls our exports,” Gopal Pillai, India’s commerce secretary, told the newspaper. “For too long, the developed countries lectured us on what we are doing wrong on trade. But this is a game that India can play, too.”
   Pillai said India's report on obstacles its exporters face in the United States should be out by August — ahead of the ITC's report on India. The report will basically amalgamate anecdotal evidence of Indian exporters' experience of roadblocks.
   Farm subsidies are seen as vitally important to the future of WTO trade talks, with India and China refusing to grant developed nations unhindered access to their markets. A vast proportion of India's population makes its living farming. India's economic leaders have defended protection of their agriculture sector, firing back that the United States has long subsidized sections of its farming industry, to the detriment of developing nations wishing to export.