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The US Trade Representative's office had last week posted information about the India-US trade deal after New Delhi and Washington DC announced details of its bilateral interim agreement framework. Along with the details of the deal, the USTR had posted a map of India on X.
A week after the India-US trade deal joint statement was signed, the office of the US Trade Representative has taken down a social media post that showed a map of India covering the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, as well as the Aksai Chin region as part of the Indian territory. Both the regions are a matter of controversy for India and its neighbours including Pakistan and China.
The US Trade Representative's office had last week posted information about the India-US trade deal after New Delhi and Washington DC announced details of its bilateral interim agreement framework. Along with the details of the deal, the USTR had posted a map of India on social media platform X.
The map had shown the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), as territory of India. Similarly, the Aksai Chin region, claimed by China, was also shown as part of the Indian territory.
However, the specific post showing the map of India has now been deleted from the USTR's X handle.
On previous occasions, maps of India had been shown with a demarcated line to portray the PoK and Aksai Chin region. But the map of India issued by the USTR had shown the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir, including these two areas, as an integral part of India.
New Delhi has consistently underscored that the entire Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. India also asserts that Aksai Chin is an integral part of its territory based on historical claims and past treaties.
Previously, in the "standard map" released by China, the country has staked claim over Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin region, Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.
White House tweaks India-US deal factsheet
In a separate move, the White House has updated the factsheet it had released on the India-US trade deal a day after the joint agreement was signed.
In the updated factsheet, the White House as stepped back on several key assertions related to India's commitments on purchases, tariffs, and digital trade.
India and the US announced on Friday night that they have reached a framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement under which both sides will reduce import duties on a number of goods to boost two-way trade.
The original version of the factsheet stated, “India committed to buy more American products and purchase over $500 billion of US energy, information and communication technology, agricultural, coal, and other products.”
The revised factsheet now says India “intends” to buy more American products and omits the term "agricultural" from the list of product categories.
It also removes the mention of “certain pulses” from the list of agricultural products that India will eliminate tariffs from.
On digital trade, the initial factsheet mentioned, "India will remove its digital services taxes" and “committed to negotiate a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules that address discriminatory or burdensome practices and other barriers to digital trade.”
The current version drops the claim that “India will remove its digital services taxes” and retains only that “India committed to negotiate a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules.”
(With agency inputs)
English (US) ·