Once considered ‘strategic natural allies’, India and the United States are now witnessing one of the worst periods in bilateral trade ties. There are several dialogue mechanisms, such as the Ministerial Trade Policy Forum and a ministerial-level Economic and Financial Partnership, to strengthen bilateral engagement on economic and trade issues and iron out differences. But all of them seem to have stopped functioning, especially after the recent diplomatic row following the arrest of Devyani Khobragade. US International Trade Commission (USITC), a quasi judicial body that advises the US President and US Congress on trade matters, has launched an investigation into India’s trade, investment and industrial policies. It has sought permission to visit India to carry out the probe, but India has refused to cooperate. Pharmaceuticals, solar power and aviation are some of the sectors that have been affected by these tensions. US is the fifth largest source of foreign direct investments to India. According to official statistics of September 2013, the cumulative FDI inflows from the US from April 2000 to March 2013 amounted to about $11.6 billion – that’s nearly 6 per cent of the total FDI into India. Trade figures indicate why US is getting increasingly miffed with India. The India-US trade reached an all-time high of over $63.7 billion in 2013, with almost $20 billion trade surplus in favor of India. According to the US Census Bureau, in 2013, while US exported goods worth $21.87 billion to India, its import from India was worth $41.82 billion, with the over trade being a record $63.7 billion – an increase of 1.7 per cent from the previous year.