Farmer outfits slam India–US trade deal as ‘total surrender’ to America; call for nationwide protests on Feb 12

A number of farmers' organisations, including Sayunk Kisan Morcha, its non-political breakaway faction and All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) have criticised the India-US trade deal and announced protests against it to be held across the country next week.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, hours after a joint statement between the countries, alleged that the proposed interim trade agreement framework between India and the United States amounted to a "total surrender" of Indian agriculture to American multinational corporations. The statement also demanded the immediate resignation of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

Under the terms of the interim trade agreement, India will "eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods" and on other food and agricultural products.

The US will apply a reciprocal tariff rate of 18 per cent on goods from India, including textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, plastic and rubber, organic chemicals, and certain machinery, the joint statement added.

The terms were released after US President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with India on Monday, stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to halt Russian oil purchases.

All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) leader Krishna Prasad was quoted by news agency PTI assaying saying the trade deal will have a deep impact on the agriculture sector by opening the market for items like dried distillers' grains, red sorghum for animal feed and soybean oil, and also claimed it would impact the dairy sector.

He said the deals with the US and the European Union (EU) were being done to benefit their "stagnant" economies and are not beneficial to India.

Activist Sunilam said the issue should be debated in Parliament.

Krantikari Kisan Union (Punjab) leader Darshan Pal said members of the outfit would burn effigies of Trump and Modi in protest. He said the deal will further impact farmers who are already facing low incomes and are unable to pay their loans.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said people in the villages are questioning how the deals will impact them. He called upon farmers to join the protest against the deals.

"The framework is an abject rejection of the claim of the Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal that the agriculture and dairy sectors are out of the Free Trade Agreements and the Government of India will not make any compromise on the interests of agriculture," the SKM statement said.

He said "no concessions" had been extended in "sensitive areas" such as grains, spices, dairy, poultry, meat and several vegetables and fruits -- including potatoes, oranges and strawberries.

"The commerce minister is consciously propagating falsehood and betraying the farmers and the entire people. SKM considers the role of the commerce minister as a traitor and demands his immediate resignation," the SKM said.

"Also, SKM demands that the prime minister desist from signing the India-US Free Trade Agreement or face massive pan-India united mass struggles," it said.

The SKM appealed to all political parties, farmers' and agricultural workers' organisations, trade unions, and all mass and class organisations to join the protest demonstrations on the 12 February general strike.

The SKM (Non-Political) also said in a statement that it would soon hold a meeting and announce large-scale protests against the India-US free trade agreement, adding that Indian farmers will not tolerate any such agreement.

According to the statement, farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said that while Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is tweeting that agriculture and the dairy sector will be protected, the India-US joint statement says that India has agreed to discuss and resolve non-tariff barriers imposed on US agricultural and food products.

The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and sectoral federations and associations have announced a one-day general strike on February 12 against the imposition of the labour codes and the trade deals.

Top imports included cotton, soybean oil, ethanol and various nuts such as almonds. This happened even before the trade deal, although the rise is partly due to India reducing tariffs on some of these US items.

Experts have said that a further reduction on duties for products such as soybean oil, which was announced in the joint statement, will likely lead to a jump in goods being imported by India from the US.

(With agency inputs)