The CPI (M) today asked the Modi government not to succumb to the “unilateral agenda” of US President Donald Trump to boost US corporate interests in the Indian economy, which could only help Trump in his re-election bid.
The party said the US agenda will most adversely affect the interests of Indian farmers and agriculture, in particular the dairy and poultry sectors.
The US permits its agri-business to distort prices to out-compete local farmers in developing countries with a subsidy of a whopping $867 billion, the party said.
Trump now wants India to remove the tariff barrier which serves as a policy tool to protect the Indian farmers, food procurement for people’s food security and minimum support price for farmers.
This will destroy Indian agriculture and the livelihood of crores of people. Trump is also targeting India’s health care sector which, at present, is a critical producer of affordable generic medicines. USA now demands India remove the compulsory licensing “for the benefit of mega US pharmaceutical corporations,” the party said.
According to the Left party, the US corporate agenda on e-commerce is equally invasive which is trying to cajole India to sign the digital trade regime at WTO, which would allow US big-tech to increase their control over the economy “and the political process and facilitate free cross border data flows without compensation”.
The party said the US restrictive policy on HIB visas was adversely affecting Indian IT industry. India was suffering major pollution and climate-change related challenges, but the US has unilaterally backed out of the Paris agreement on United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and is refusing to compensate and finance the climate change mitigation fund, the CPI(M) said.
It said the government of India has to resist “this climate unilateralism and build resistance to force the US to accept its responsibility as the biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gases”.