India and the United States are at par with NATO nations when it comes to sharing cutting-edge technology, according to Thea Rozman Kendler, the Assistant Secretary for Export Administration in the US Department of Commerce. Kendler cited India's strategic trade laws and effective implementation of regulations as the reason for the US's ability to share technology with the country that it cannot share with others. The US has reduced the export of technology to India that requires special licenses from 25% to 0.5% in the last 25 years. Kendler's comments came ahead of the first meeting under the India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue in May.
Kendler visited India for five days to hold meetings with government officials and industry bodies to discuss dual-use export control issues and prepare grounds for the inaugural India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue in Washington next month. Dual-use items are goods, software, and technology that can be used for civilian and military applications.
The India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue aims to build up cooperation in critical technologies such as semiconductors, biotechnology, advanced materials, and rare-earth processing technology, among others. The initiative is headed by national security advisers in both countries.
India and the US decided to launch the strategic trade dialogue in March to address export controls, explore ways of enhancing high-technology commerce, and facilitate technology transfers. During Kendler's visit, she also spoke about the US's concerns about Russia's possible use of third countries to circumvent sanctions and access critical technologies.
Regarding China, Kendler highlighted the challenge posed by China's "military-civil fusion strategy" in the sphere of advanced technologies. "If you don't know whether the [Chinese] government's going to take over a technology and whether the entity you're shipping to is sharing that commercial technology with the military actor, it's challenging for the industry, and we want to make sure that we're providing the best advice we can," Kendler said.
Although Kendler did not comment on whether India's stance on local production and sourcing was discussed during the talks, she said, "We're excited about the cooperation with the Indian government… there are areas where we can collaborate on innovating new technologies, and we're just excited." The India-US Strategic Trade Dialogue is a building block for the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), which will foster cooperation in critical and emerging technologies between the two countries.
