“The US’ insistence stems from its concern over fall in its exports to China. China’s share is about 55 per cent of the US’ soybean exports and 26 per cent in its corn exports. It wants to widen its buyer base by tapping India,” the source said. | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAPThe US is inclined to keep dairy out of the purview of the India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) on India’s insistence that it was a highly sensitive sector and a means of livelihood for lakhs of rural families. However, it is continuing to push India to offer concessions on a range of agricultural products, including soyabean and corn, sources have said.“While India is open to offering concessions on some fruits, vegetables and nuts, it is finding it difficult to devise ways to allow import of soyabean and corn as most of it is genetically modified (GM) in the US and Indian laws do not allow such imports.,” a source tracking the matter said.Businesslinewas the first to report in April on GM soyabean and corn emerging as a contentious issue between the US and India in the BTA negotiationsIndia is negotiating a BTA with the US with a short term goal of avoiding US reciprocal tariffs of 26 per cent (of which 10 per cent was levied in April), that have been postponed by US President Donald Trump from July 9 till August 1. The timeline for delivering the first tranche of the full BTA is Fall 2025 (September-October), and New Delhi is hopeful of arriving at a mutually beneficial pact with the US that delivers market access to both countries.Sources said that the US seems to be agreeable to only keep dairy out of the negotiations, but wants GM soyabean and corn on the table. “The US’ insistence stems from its concern over fall in its exports to China. China’s share is about 55 per cent of the US’ soybean exports and 26 per cent in its corn exports. It wants to widen its buyer base by tapping India,” the source said.In agriculture trade, India’s export to the US stood at $6.25 billion in 2024-25, up from $5.52 billion in 2023-24, whereas US’ export to India was $373 million in CY2023, official data show. In FY25, India’s total exports to the US was valued at $86.51 billion whereas total import from the US was $45.69 billion.While many farmer bodies in India have raised strong objections about allowing highly subsidised farm products from the US, a paper by NITI Aayog had advocated India to permit farming of GM soyabean and GM crops. The paper was pulled off the website after protests by farmer organisations.Even as the issue of GM soyabean and corn from the US is to be settled, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee’s (GEAC) has recently allowed global major Bayer to do field trial of its two GM varieties of corn for which Punjab Agriculture University has consented to conduct field trial.The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh on Friday issued a statement demanding the permission issued for field testing of GM corn should be cancelled.A delegation of BKS leaders has handed over a memorandum to the Vice Chancellor of the Punjab Agricultural University, said its spokesperson Raghavendra Singh Patel.“In the name of trade agreement, the US is pressurising India to open up the agriculture and dairy sector. America is trying to get GM soybean and GM maize into India by any means,” BKS said in a statement.Mohini Mohan Mishra, General Secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, said that there is a strong possibility of contamination at all places from farming to purchasing, processing, market, food. “We want organic, not GM,” he added. Drawing a parallel with Bt cotton, the BKS leader also said that when GM variety in cotton was introduced in India in 2002 on the claim of its pest resistance quality, soon after in 2005 insects started damaging the BG-I variety and then BG-II was introduced in 2006 and again pest started damaging the crop from 2009.“It is clear from this that the use of pest-resistant GM cotton turned out to be uncertain, unsafe and full of adverse effects. In this direction, the way of giving permission to test GM corn is also an attempt to bring the failed experiment back on the farmers,” Mishra said.More Like ThisPublished on July 18, 2025