India, US must map out economies, form supply chains in complementary ways: Katherine Tai

US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said the India-US relationship is on an upward trajectory and the two sides should map out their economies to develop supply chains in complementary ways. In an interview with ET’s Kirtika Suneja and Deepshikha Sikarwar, Tai, who was on a visit to India to attend the G20 trade ministers meeting, said the upcoming conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will be the first of the “reform ministerials”. Edited excerpts:

Where do you see India-US trade relations going from here, especially on friendshoring and getting US companies to invest in India?
Minister (Piyush) Goyal and I held our first trade policy forum (TPF) in November 2021. The TPF hadn’t convened since 2017 and it had broken down then and there was not even a joint statement between the US and India. It’s maybe a marker in terms of a relationship that has been marked by tremendous potential, but also as significant underperformance of that potential. The joint statement was 5-6 pages long and included references to discussions on topics that have traditionally been challenging between the US and India. So I considered that to be a significant win.