Covalent ‘Bonding’: India Commits To $5 Billion Worth Annual Oil Purchases From The US, $18 Billion In Defence 

India’s Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla has stated that the nation has committed to importing $5 billion worth of oil and gas annually along with $18 billion of defence goods from the US, reports The Tribune.

“We’re looking at importing products that we’ve never bought from the US before,” the diplomat noted. He added that while India’s exports to America have increased by 30 per cent, bilateral trade between the two has also gone up from $119 billion to $140 billion in the last two years. However, India has a trade surplus of $23 billion with the US.

“What amazes me is that in the last few years, the amount of progress that our relationship has made is unparalleled in many senses. The United States is India’s largest trading partner. We are among the top 10 trading partners in terms of sheer volume of business,” Shringla said.

The US also reciprocated India’s positive take on their relationship, “Our promise (is that) we will put all the attention and energy it takes to make this relationship successful,” said US Chambers of Commerce president Tom Donohue.

Energetic start

In October 2017, India’s Paradip port received the first-ever shipment of crude oil from the US, making a shift in Indo-US relations. India also imported over $3 billion worth of crude oil from the US in 2018.

“We expressed our readiness to import more gas and more oil from United States as a way of expanding trade,” India’s top diplomat, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale, had earlier stated.

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