US ‘sorting’ out CAATSA sanctions waiver for India: Mattis

Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 4

In good news for India, US Secretary of Defence James Mattis has expressed confidence on getting India a waiver from the threat of sanctions saying “we will sort out all those issues”.

Mattis’ remarks came before he met Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her high-level delegation in the US on Tuesday.

Mattis was speaking to the media in the US where he was asked, “They (India) have sealed the deal for the S-400 with the Russians. We talked about it when you were in New Delhi (on September 6). Do you expect them to get the waiver?”

The US Secretary of Defence responded, “You know, India has spent many, many years in its non-aligned status. It’s drawn a lot of weapons from Russia. And we’re here today to talk about all the issues that bring us (India-US) closer together, and we will sort out all those issues here today, and in the days ahead.”

On October 5, India ignored US sanctions to announce the S-400 “Triumf” air-defence missile deal from Russia.

The US, in June, passed the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) that requires imposing curbs on nations that have “significant” defence relations with Russia. There is a provision for a waiver and New Delhi has argued out its case to the US. “The waiver authority is not a blanket waiver. Waivers are considered on transaction basis. We cannot prejudge any sanctions decisions,” the US had said after the Indo-Russian deal.

India needs a presidential waiver to get around the punitive CAATSA sanctions.

In the past, India has argued that it has a strategic partnership with the US but has made it clear to Washington that India-Russia military relations stand separate from the India-US ties and that these are not connected.

Meanwhile, at the India-US meeting Sitharaman remarked. “The inaugural 2+2 inter-ministerial dialogue hosted by India in September was a landmark in our relations, and has set the stage for strategic-level consultations between us.”

This was the fourth meeting in a year between Sitharaman and Mattis.

Earlier, on October 10--just five days after the Indo-Russian deal--US President Donald Trump during an interaction with journalists at the White House had said India would find out what action the US took against it for defence deal with Russia “sooner than you think”. 

“India is going to find out, aren’t they,” Trump had said while responding to a question about India-Russia S-400 deal.