Over the weekend, President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned a corner for the United States and India. The two leaders resolved issues in a long-stalled nuclear deal that for years kept U.S. nuclear power companies from doing business in India. Modi also hailed economics as “vital for the success of our strategic partnership.” In Modi, it appears that Washington has at last found a prime minister prepared to transform India’s economic relationship with America and officials should seize the chance to work with a leader focused on economic reform and trade. Washington should respond by hustling to secure India’s membership in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and by developing a path for Indian membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — a move that could potentially increase trade between the two nations.
Narendra Modi was elected prime minister last May on the promise to deliver rapid economic growth to his country’s 1.2 billion citizens. Growth has indeed begun to pick up from below 5% in 2013. Given Modi’s determination—a striking contrast with his most recent predecessor — Obama should make trade and economics a much higher priority. Unlike before, the U.S. may finally have found a partner in India who is able to convince his party and the opposition to enact long-delayed reforms that will benefit India and make it easier to do business in the world’s largest democracy.
In the U.S.-India joint statement released on Sunday, Obama took an important step by “welcoming India’s interest in joining” APEC. This statement ended a long period of inexplicable U.S. silence about an anomaly in the trade group—the absence of India, a major Asian economy. Now, Washington should get moving to convince all the other APEC members to back India before the annual summit in November. By doing so, India would join the U.S., China and 19 other nations in crafting action plans to reduce trade barriers. It’s a low risk gamble on India’s growth and importance to the Asia-Pacific economy.
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