AMCHAM hosted an interaction with Mr. Mark Linscott, Assistant USTR for South and Central Asia, U.S. Trade Representative, on 21st September at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The meeting focused on trade related challenges in the run-up the to the U.S. – India Trade Policy Forum scheduled for October in Washington D.C. Mr. Linscott was accompanied by Ms. Valerie Dees, Director, Office of South Asia, U.S. Department of Commerce and a team from USTR which included Ms. Tanya Menchi, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative, South and Central Asia and Mr. Brendan Lynch, Director for India, Office of Central and South Asian Affairs, among others. From the U.S. Embassy, Mr. Scott Sindelar, Minister Counselor for Agricultural Affairs, Mr. Patrick Santillo, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, Mr. Brian Brendel, Deputy Minister Counselor for EEST and Ms. Aileen Nandi, Deputy Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, attended the meeting.

Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM, made welcome remarks. Mr. Arijit Ghosh, National Executive Board Member, AMCHAM and President & Managing Director, Textron India, in his opening remarks talked about transparency, taxation and public procurement. Mr. Prabal Chakraborty, Chairman – Medical Devices Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President and Managing Director, Boston Scientific India, emphasized that the medical devices sector still faced challenges with price control. He discussed the proposed medical devices policy, product withdrawal applications, the healthcare value chain and how innovation has been a challenge.

AMCHAM members introduced themselves and talked about specific trade barriers their companies faced. Some of the challenges included lack of patent linkages, difficulty in defining software patents, transfer of technology, in country testing requirements, among others. The bright spot has been the healthy trade in the defense sector.

Mr. Linscott, shared insights from the meetings that USTR has had with various ministries and asked poignant questions to members regarding challenges. He emphasized that the U.S. administration cared about trade and that both the U.S. and Indian government were actively engaged in trade facilitation.

AMCHAM thanked the partners for this event, Edwards Lifesciences and MSD Pharmaceuticals.