Two hot button items that appear to have emerged are US push for exports of GM crops and exports of cow milk to India. Both are red lines that cannot be crossed
India is in the midst of negotiations for a trade deal with the United States under an environment of unpredictability laced with unabashed and overt arm-twisting that has become the signature call of that nation under the leadership of President Donald Trump. These are understandably difficult negotiations, and a lot is at stake given that the US remains one of the most significant trade partners of India, reflected in the trade numbers but also in deep ties seen through the lens of the large and vibrant Indian community in the US and the number of Indians who still flock to the US for work, tourism or to study.
The US has extended the deadline for a trade deal from July 9 to August 1 under the threat of punitive tariffs of 26% if an agreement is not reached by then. The extension signals hope and optimism that a deal is possible and workable, but it equally signals that the US side is pushing hard to see if India will bend under pressure. Further, the US has extracted significant concessions from others, including the United Kingdom, and would demand that India, too, fall in line.
Of course, the people of India would expect the country not to bend to anything unreasonable, even though making such demands has become the currency of the US. In this context, it is good to delink the success or failure of a trade deal with the performance or the influence of the government under Narendra Modi. In other words, this government should ignore image management within the nation vis a vis the trade deal and take tough calls that protect Indian interests even if this runs the risk of not having a trade deal. We may have a deal and be worse off as a nation if India allows concessions and gives in where it should not; we may equally not have a trade deal and be worse off in different ways since tariffs will impact trade and hurt India and its exports. The latter will create disruption in the immediate, but it has chances of some mitigation with the US in a trade war against all that will likely bring some reversals over time since its own economy will not be able to take the hit of tariffs beyond a point.
In this context, two hot button items that appear to have emerged are the US push for exports of GM crops and exports of cow milk to India. None of these is a new demand. Both are red lines that cannot be crossed and should not be crossed. They cannot be part of discussions if the Indian side makes it clear that no negotiations on these are possible. For example, India requires that dairy products used as food must be from animals that are not given blood meals or given feeds containing internal organs or tissues of ruminant or porcine origin. This is a perfectly fair and reasonable requirement – cows and buffaloes used for milk production are herbivores and must not be given any animal products as food.
Further, milk in the Indian context is culturally sensitive given that it is used for religious offerings and in sweets for auspicious occasions. Which Indian would like milk that comes from a source that is fed organs or blood? Yet, the US position as articulated in the US ‘2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (FTB)’ is that Indian requirements “lack a discernible animal health or human health justification”.
This is one small part of a larger problem, one that the US wants to dump its excess produce which itself is achieved through intensive methods and a growing chemicalisation of the industry. Such a sectoral opening up will kill the Indian dairy sector. It will mix up imported US milk that contains recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), which is approved in the US since 1993 to increase milk production in cows but is banned in the European Union and Canada. Milk and meat from these sources have higher levels of IGF-1, a growth hormone which at high levels is said to be linked to prostrate, breast, colorectal and other cancers though the linkage is not definitive, according to the American Cancer Society.
On GM (genetically modified)crops, the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture or ASHA – Kisan Swaraj network which brings together farmers and agriculturists has written to the government appealing against any concessions to the US. These are real concerns and the government must assure the nation that it will not give in.
The US wants much more than this. Take the example of stent prices, which were capped in India when the regulators found that price inflation was as high as 2000%. Everyone made merry while patients suffered, till the caps came in. The US, in the 2025 Foreign Trade Barriers report, has argued that “price controls (on coronary stents and knee implants) have not been increased in line with inflation and do not differentiate on the basis of the cost of production or technological innovation, which dissuades US companies from serving the market”. The drift is clear. The US wants to extract if not extort. India must resist.
The Billion Press (Jagdish Rattanani is a journalist and faculty member at SPJIMR.)
