U.S. Chamber President and CEO Suzanne Clark shared a bold and optimistic message on the future of the U.S.-India economic relationship to business leaders, government officials, and thought leaders at the 48th Annual General Meeting and India Ideas Summit on June 13 in Washington, D.C.
Her speech came before India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second state visit to the U.S. and urged leaders from both governments to reaffirm their pledge to meet the goal of reaching $500 billion in bilateral trade. Read the full speech:
48th Annual General Meeting and India Ideas Summit Remarks
“I’m Suzanne Clark, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. On behalf of the American business community, I want to thank all of you for joining us today and I especially want to welcome our guests who traveled all the way from India to celebrate this special event with us.
For nearly a half-century, the U.S. Chamber’s U.S.-India Business Council has worked to strengthen the commercial ties between the world’s oldest and largest democracies. Now, as we look forward to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second state visit to the United States, the U.S.-India Business Council and the U.S. Chamber are continuing our efforts to promote this important bilateral relationship.
I’d like to briefly highlight a few of the ways we’ve done that already this year:
- In January, we helped launch the iCET in collaboration with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and the National Security Advisors from both nations.
- Our team in Delhi has participated in IPEF deliberations, as well as G20 events.
- Here in Washington, we welcomed the new U.S. Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, and hosted India’s Minister of Finance.
Next week, we will hold the inaugural INDUS-X conference to promote a stronger U.S.-India defense start-up ecosystem. And, of course, today we are hosting our annual India Ideas Summit along with the 48th Annual General Meeting of this council.
All these efforts drive forward the mission of the U.S-India Business Council.
Working across sectors and alongside more than 200 member companies, the council helps strengthen the U.S.-India partnership—as well as the ability of our nations to meet global challenges.
We face historic inflation, supply chain bottlenecks, and the transformative impact of critical and emerging technologies. In addition to all this, the Indo-Pacific region faces mounting threats to open, rules-based trade.
At the U.S. Chamber, we understand that free enterprise, free markets, and free trade have a proven track record for good in the world. We know that global engagement is how we protect our national security, promote our values, and unlock economic growth—it is how we lift people up and strengthen communities. Our success in advancing these values and meeting these challenges head on depends on collaboration.
When it comes to the U.S. and India, that means remaining united in our commitment to de-risk and diversify global supply chains. It means remaining committed to protecting the growth of emerging markets from climate risks. Most importantly, it means honoring our commitment to preserve a global economy underpinned by free enterprise, competitive markets, and rules-based trade and investment. These are big commitments, and our trade relationship will help us deliver on each of them.
Through this Summit, and ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Washington, the U.S. Chamber encourages both governments to reaffirm their pledge to meet the goal of reaching $500 billion in bilateral trade and we urge leaders at all levels to think about what can be done to help us get there.
I am confident every company represented here today—as well as the entire Chamber team—is ready to help achieve that vision.
By reaching that ambitious bilateral trade target, together we can demonstrate to the world that the future of the global economy will be one anchored by democracy, free enterprise, open markets, and the rule of law.
Once again, thank you all for joining us, and I hope you enjoy an informative and productive summit.”
