10 REASONS TO OPPOSE THE US
PRESIDENTS INDIA VISIT
The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump,
will visit India from 24-25 February 2020. Prime Minister Modi claims that the
US and India enjoy a special relationship and this visit will further bilateral
ties to India’s benefit. Nothing could be further from the truth.In fact, weeks
before Trump’s visit, India was removed from the Special and Preferential
Status list of the countries that trade with the US.
The real intention of Trump’s visit is to capture India’s market and force the
country to accept all the conditions that help further the interests of US
corporates. Government of India too is yielding to the pressure and accepting
those conditions. Privatisation of defence production and financial institutions like LIC are all some such recent examples.Trump thrives
on a politics of hate and bigotry that demonises minorities and migrants on the
one hand and furthers the agenda of US corporations against the interests of
workers and the environment on the other. India has nothing to gain and much to
lose from this visit. Further,
Trump’s belligerent foreign policy has been an unmitigated disaster for several
countries such as Palestine, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Venezuela and Bolivia to just
name a few. Therefore, a broad coalition of democratic and progressive groups
from across the country have decided to oppose and resist Trump for the
following reasons
1. ADVERSE IMPACTS ON INDIAN AGRICULTURE
India is a large target market for US agribusiness companies; for products such
as almonds,walnuts, cashews, apples, chickpeas, wheat, soybean, maize and
peanuts. Huge budgetary allocations and subsidies provided by the US Government
allow its agribusiness corporations to distort prices and out-compete local
farmers in developing countries. The 2019 US Farm bill allocation was $867
billion (INR 60, 69,000 crores). So far, India has used tariffs as a policy
tool to protect its farmers from such an import glut. Trump is demanding that
India remove these tariffs. He is also targeting India’s dairy and poultry
sector that together sustain the livelihoods of over 100 million households.
Many peasant groups such as the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (ICCFM) have already
written to the Indian Government to desist from further opening up agricultural
markets to subsidised products from the US.
2. UNDERMINING ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE
India is a critical producer of affordable generic medicines. India’s patent
law safeguards play a key role in enabling its generic manufacturers to compete
and produce medicines at affordable prices. Thanks to competition stemming from
Indian generics, the price of medicines to treat diseases such as HIV,
tuberculosis (TB) and cancer are affordable. During Trump’s visit, India will
once again face pressure to give into demands that protect the interests of US
pharmaceutical corporations. Reports indicate that the US is already exerting
pressure on India to revise sections of the Indian Patent Act that allow for
compulsory licensing and prohibit frivolous patent applications through the
tactic of ‘evergreening’. The US has also targeted India’s progressive policy
on price controls on medical devices such as cardiac stents and knee implants. Acceding to this demand will allow US multinationals to fix high
prices that would compromise access. The Indian government must not give into
pressure that will undermine access to affordable generic medicines, devices and vaccines for people in India
and across the world.
3. US CORPORATE AGENDA ON E-COMMERCE
There is immense pressure from the US on developing countries to sign on to an
international digital trade regime at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). What
are innocuously called ‘e-commerce’ negotiations would be a free-for-all for US
Big Tech to continue to increase their control over the economy and the
political process. Provisions such as free cross-border data flows without
compensation, extension of US private law over e-signatures and
e-authentication,and a ban on requiring local presence will limit our ability
to ensure digital development in the public interest. These rules are based on
principles designed by corporations such as Amazon and Google and are intended
to help these firms dominate markets in the developing world.Trump has been
pushing India to allow unbridled access to these corporations which will enable
the US to exercise power over digital technology. Such an agreement would be
disastrous for the Indian economy for decades to come, and would push farmers,
traders and workers into further misery and compromise our digital
industrialisation pathway.
4. SUBVERTING INDIA AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AT THE WTO
The US has targeted India at the WTO on multiple counts. It has challenged
India’s policies on public stockholding and Minimum Support Prices (MSP). These
policies are critical to implement the National Food Security Act to ensure that the poor have access to
food and farmers receive adequate prices. The US has also taken India to the
WTO Court for adopting policies focused on domestic solar cell producers and
subsidies for export oriented units (EOU).Under Trump, the US is leading the
charge to ensure that India and other developing countries are no longer
classified as developing countries in the WTO. This will rob these countries ofprovisions such as Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT) that allow
for flexible commitments and longer implementation periods keeping in mind
their developmental status.The US is also the prime mover in shutting down the
WTOs appellate body that was critical in resolving trade disputes.
5. EXACERBATING THE CLIMATE CRISIS
Trump is a climate change denier. True to his word, he has initiated the formal
process of withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The US is the world’s biggest
historical emitter of greenhouse gases. Therefore it has a multiple
responsibility in taking on the largest emission reductions and at the same
time addressing its burden of climate reparations by providing adequate finance
and green technologies to developing countries that are disproportionately
impacted by the climate crisis. Instead Trump has refused to pay the US’ due
share to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and attacked India for supposedly asking
for billions of dollars in foreign aid for its climate efforts.Unfortunately,
the Modi Government has refused to stand up to US bullying.
6. OFFENSIVE ON MANUFACTURING AND INVESTMENT POLICIES
In 2018, the Trump administration applied unilateral tariffs on steel and
aluminium imports from several developing countries, including India. Reports
indicate that India’s exports of steel products fell by 46% in 12 months as a
result of the US action. In January 2020, US tariffs were expanded to
downstream products such as electrical wires and parts for automobiles and
tractors.The May 2019 US withdrawal of India’s Generalised System of Trade
Preferences (GSP) benefits has also hit Indian manufacturing products, including textiles and
auto components. The GSP entails duty free access to over 2000 products worth
around $6 billion. The US has also targeted India’s investment limits in a
range of sectors such as insurance and banking where foreign ownership is
capped at 49% and 74% respectively. Foreign investment limits in media are also
an area of concern as are the 51 % limit on multi-brand retail with local
sourcing requirements. Removal of all these industrial policy tools will be a
key target of the US delegation.
7. ATTACK ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS
The Trump administration has worked to systematically undermine sexual and
reproductive rights both in the US and around the world. It has dismantled
funding to various organisations that work on the issue of sexual and
reproductive care, including access to abortions, through an expansion of the ‘global gag rule’. This rule bars any organisation that
provides, or makes referrals, for abortions in its family planning from
receiving federal funding. As a result of this, in the US, access to these
health services are shrinking and especially poor women, women of colour and
transgender people are deprived of the basic human right of healthcare. Trump
also harbours patriarchal and misogynist views on women, which deny them their
right to choice and take decisions on their future.
8. ATTACK ON PEACE AND SECURITY
US is exerting pressure on India to completely depend on it for all its defence
requirements. It is under US pressure that Indian government has allowed 100
private investment in defence production. It has threatened sanctions when
India intended to purchase advanced missile defence system S-400 from Russia.
India-US nuclear deal initiated the process for strengthening the defence
partnership between the two countries and a slew of defence deals were signed
that severely compromise India’s strategic, defence and security interests. COMCASA, LEMOSA are two such examples. Even during the present trip,
Trump intends to sell US weapons to India and increase India’s dependency on
the US. All these measures are extremely dangerous to the security and sovereignty of our
country. Under Trump,US imperialist aggression has intensified, bringing the
world closer to nuclear holocaust. The US has withdrawn from the Intermediate Range
Nuclear Forces Treaty, one of the pillars of global disarmament. The doomsday
clock indicating the proximity to man-made catastrophe is at its closest to
midnight since its origin in 1947. Trump has also championed a space-based
missile defense layer, setting the stage for a dangerous weaponisation of
space. The US has brought West Asia to the brink of another catastrophic war by withdrawing from the Iran
nuclear deal and assassinating Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. It continues
to blatantly support Israeli aggression on Palestine and neighbouring countries
and is the largest weapons supplier to Saudi Arabia whose war on Yemen has led to one of the worst humanitarian crises of
the century. In South East and East Asia, through initiatives such as the Indo-Pacific
strategy and the QUAD,the US has been promoting a provocative encirclement of
China alongside its trade and technological wars. In Latin America, it has
supported and endorsed coups and coup attempts in Bolivia and Venezuela.
Consequently, US defense spending has steadily increased since Trump came to power. Today, the US military budget is not only the highest in the
world but is more than that of the next 11 countries combined.
9. SOLIDARITY WITH PEOPLE OF PALESTINE, CUBA, IRAN AND
VENEZUELA
The Trump regime has intensified the US war against the people of countries
such as Palestine,Cuba, Venezuela and Iran. Its primary weapon has been
sanctions which have caused massive hardship. As part of US support for the
coup attempt in Venezuela, the Trump administration has enacted a series of
harsh unilateral measures. Research conducted in 2019 indicates that US
sanctions may have caused over 40,000 deaths in the country between 2017 and
2018. As for Cuba, the invocation of Title III of Helms Burton Act by the Trump
administration marks the latest chapter in the decades-long assault on the
lives and livelihoods of the common people there. In Iran, wave after wave of
crippling sanctions have led to a rise in unemployment and curtailed growth.
Among the worst targets of the Trump regime’s policies have been the people of
Palestine. Under Trump, the US has backed Israel to the hilt which has in turn
unleashed an unprecedented wave of repression against the Palestinian people,
especially protesters at the Great March of Return. From shifting the US
embassy to Jerusalem to announcing the ‘deal of the century,’ Trump has been an
implacable enemy of the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people.
10. GLOBAL COMPACT OF RIGHT-WING AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES
Trump has been in the forefront of a global resurgence of the right wing that
has thrived on racism, attacks on minorities and ethnic and religious
chauvinism. These forces, many of which are in power across the world – Israel,
United Kingdom, India, Philippines, Brazil and Turkey –have established close
links with each other, the recent Howdy Modi event being a classic example.
India’s invitation to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who is infamous for
his misogynist and racist statements is yet another instance of such
cooperation. These regimes have championed building walls, segregating
minorities, targeting migrants and attacking gender rights. They have unleashed
and encouraged a wave of right-wing attacks in their respective countries too,
targeting the most vulnerable sections of society.With the national and global
rise of the right-wing, we recognise that this is not a time for complacency. The signatories to this statement stand in solidarity with all
sections of society in India and across the world who are struggling for
justice and dignity in the face of repressive regimes. We reiterate our
commitment to democracy, peace, justice and solidarity. This is the reason why
we have joined our forces to oppose Trump’s visit to India and also Indian government’s
subservience to the US imperial interests.
Courtesy: NILOTPAL BASU
Courtesy: NILOTPAL BASU
