Republican senators talk trade in India

Hoeven suggested organizing a trade delegation between CII and the North Dakota Trade Office to partner his state’s with Indian companies.

With a population of 1.2 billion, the world’s second largest, India’s middle class is expanding and would likely be open to more American-made products.

“With an average economic growth rate of about 9 percent, the country’s growing consumer base represents an enormous market for American and North Dakotan goods and services,” Hoeven said. “Creating a better environment for mutual trade could generate real business opportunities and jobs for American workers.”

Earlier in the week, the lawmakers met with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to promote congressional approval of a pending free trade agreement between the two nations, which could be completed sometime this summer. 

In early November, President Obama announced a plan to boost U.S. exports to India by about $10 billion, saying at the time that, “the United States sees Asia, and especially India, as a market of the future.”

During that trip, Obama vowed to make “fundamental reforms” to the export controls that have directed trade between the two nations.