India calls Industrial and Business Protectionism by US unacceptable

New Delhi: United States is putting up excessive trade barriers and making it hard for Indian professionals to get visa, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said Tuesday.

Accusing the world’s largest economy of indulging in protectionism, Sharma said India would not accept such protectionist steps in the name of tougher intellectual property rights.

“There are issues which India has raised where we feel there is very high and unacceptable protectionism,” Sharma said at a media conference here.

Sharma also said the US has made it very hard for Indians to get visa, another protectionist measure hurting the economic engagements between the world’s two largest democracy.

The minister’s comments came ahead of the visit of a top US official. US assistant secretary of state Nisha Desai Biswal is on a three-day visit to India starting Tuesday.

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