The Wrong Way to Deal With India

Derek Scissors / August 09, 2010

Do as I say, don’t do as I do. This is the message the Obama Administration and Congress are sending to fellow democracy India. While correctly pressing India to liberalize trade and investment, President Obama continues to hector India on outsourcing, and Congress has now transformed the talk into ugly action.

Last week, the President continued his portrayal of India as trying to take American jobs. A few days later, the Senate passed legislation requiring companies that hire a large number of high-skilled foreign workers to pay thousands more in fees for each one. This was intended to target certain Indian companies by constraining American access to them. Never mind that access to global markets makes America more competitive and ultimately creates more jobs and more wealth. This President and Congress are going with a simplistic—even patronizing—zero-sum argument that it’s either them or us. (more…)