AAP flays India-US trade deal, calls it 'biggest betrayal of farmers'

CHANDIGARH: Aam Aadmi Party's Punjab chief spokesperson and MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Wednesday called the proposed India-US trade deal the "biggest betrayal" of the country's farmers and accused the Centre of compromising national interests.

Addressing a press conference here, Dhaliwal criticised Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar for supporting the deal and challenged him to make its draft public instead of praising it in the media.





Dhaliwal claimed that the US has imposed an 18 per cent tariff on Indian goods, while the Modi government has allegedly allowed American products to enter India at zero duty.

He asked how the agreement could be called "fair" when Indian farmers would face higher tariffs in the US, while American farmers would get unrestricted access to Indian markets.

The deal would allow American agricultural products, including red sorghum, to flood Indian markets, harming farmers growing maize, millets and sorghum in states such as Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, he warned.

Dhaliwal said fruit-growers in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh would be adversely affected due to duty-free imports of apples and dry fruits from the US.

Taking a dig at Jakhar, Dhaliwal compared his support for the trade deal with the Shiromani Akali Dal's earlier backing of the now-repealed farm laws, cautioning that it could have similar political consequences.

The AAP leader alleged that details of the agreement had so far emerged only through statements by US President Donald Trump, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi had neither discussed it in Parliament nor taken the country into confidence.

Dhaliwal said the issue concerns not just farmers but the entire nation and asserted that the AAP would continue to oppose what it described as the BJP's anti-farmer policies.