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The prospects of the India-US trade deal has been a constant ongoing conflict between the two nations. But, the upcoming visit of the Commerce and industry minister, Piyush Goyal, to the United States is expected to win some concessions and even pave a clear way for the Indo-US trade deal which has been on stake for quite some time now. People are expecting to include more market access to the Indian products with the deal.

Both the nations have been in the talks of negotiating their respective concessions on a whole wider agreement. According to the reports made by Economic Times, it is said that the India and US are both eyeing a trade deal with very limited scope but they also believe that there are less likely chances that anything is going to be signed when Goyal visits US.

Some of the key demands that have been made by the United States include fewer restrictions on the medical device manufacturers and the solar panels as well. In addition to that, they are also seeking market access for the other key products along with reduced import duties.

On this visit to US, Goyal is meeting up with United States Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer along with the representatives from the medical device manufacturing industries.

In a recently issued statement to Economic Times, Pradeep Mehta, secretary general of CUTS International stated saying, “India should ensure that there is real market access for our products in the US market, other than better access for our service professionals, including their spouses. Also, there should be chapters on e-commerce so as to benefit our SMEs and on investment facilitation to help our Make in India programme become more competitive.”

Some of the prospects of the limited scope deal that has been under the talks include price controls on the medical devices, daily cuts on the Harley Davidson motorcycles along with that of the mobile phones. In addition to that, there also needs to be more focus on better market access to the US agricultural commodities including almonds, berries, nuts, to name a few.

By Somapika Dutta