A week after the joint announcement of the India-US trade agreement, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) took down a social media post that showed a map of India covering the entire Jammu and Kashmir region, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, as well as the Aksai Chin area as part of Indian territory. Both regions remain disputed between India and its neighbours, Pakistan and China, with India claiming both as an integral part of its territory.
The ÚSTR office released information on the Indo-US trade deal last week after New Delhi and Washington announced details of their framework for bilateral interim agreements. Along with the details of the agreement, USTR posted a map of India on social media platform X.
The map showed the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir, including Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), as Indian territory. Similarly, the Aksai Chin region, claimed by China, was also shown as part of Indian territory.
Read also | The White House will revise the Indo-US trade agreement within 24 hours
However, the particular post showing the map of India has now been deleted from the X USTR handle.
On previous occasions, maps of India showed a demarcated line showing the PoK region and the Aksai Chin. But the USTR map of India showed the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir, including these two areas, as an integral part of India.
New Delhi has consistently maintained that the entire Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. India also claims that Aksai Chin is an integral part of its territory based on historical claims and past treaties.
Earlier, on a “standard map” issued by China, the country staked claims to Arunachal Pradesh, the Aksai Chin region, Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.
Read also | Three points of the Indo-US trade deal have become detached from reality
The White House is editing a fact sheet on the India-US agreement
In a separate move, the White House updated the briefing paper it released on the India-US trade deal a day after they reached a framework for an interim agreement on mutual and mutually beneficial trade (Interim Agreement).
In an updated fact sheet, the White House backtracked on several key claims related to India’s commitments on purchases, tariffs and digital trade.
India and the US on Friday evening announced that they had reached a framework for the first phase of a bilateral trade agreement, under which both sides will reduce import duties on a range of goods to boost two-way trade.
Read also | India-US trade deal opens zero-tariff window for $44 billion worth of exports
The original version of the fact sheet said: “India has committed to buying more US products and buying more than $500 billion in US energy, information and communication technology, agriculture, coal and other products.
The revised fact sheet now says India “intends” to buy more US products and drops the term “agricultural” from the list of product categories.
It also removes the mention of “certain pulses” from the list of agricultural products on which India will remove tariffs.
On digital trade, the first fact sheet mentioned, “India will remove taxes on digital services” and “committed to negotiate a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules that address discriminatory or burdensome practices and other barriers to digital trade.”
The current version drops the claim that “India will remove taxes on digital services” and maintains only that “India is committed to negotiating a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules”.