The U.S. Senate is likely to pass an amendment to the 2017 National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) that seeks to ease defence trade with India to the level of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies and close partners of the U.S. such as Australia and Israel next week, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit on June 7 and 8.
The House of Representatives has already >passed amendments similar to the proposed Senate Bill, but the details vary between the two. U.S. legislative process requires both Chambers to reconcile their individual versions of similar Bills, and pass a combined version before sending for the approval of the President.
Once the President signs them into law, the amendments will enable defence trade between the U.S. and India on automatic route for a range of equipment, bypassing the bureaucratic and legislative hurdles in the existing case by case approval process.
“The Secretary of Defence, in coordination with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce, shall ensure that the authorisation of any proposed sale or export of defence articles, defence services, or technical data to India is treated in a manner similar to that of the U.S.’ closest partners and allies, which include NATO members, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Israel and New Zealand,” says the amendment by Senator Mark Kirk on Wednesday.
