<span style="color: #222222;">US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross today said the Trump administration's decision to ease export controls for high-technology product sales to India by placing it in the Strategic Trade Authorisation-1 list of countries will benefit the US manufacturers.  <br />''<br />''In a tweet Ross said, India's new status will benefit US manufacturers while continuing to protect our national security.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> </span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">India became the only South Asian nation to get designated as a Strategic Trade Authorisation-1 (STA-1) country by the US earlier this week. The granting of STA-1 status to India comes after the US recognised it as a "Major Defence Partner" in 2016.<br />''</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> Ross had made an announcement about granting of STA-1 status during the first Indo-Pacific Business Form meeting organised by the US Chambers of Commerce on Monday.<br />''</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"> Currently, 36 countries, mostly all the NATO countries, have this status. Other Asian countries as STA-1 are Japan and South Korea. Till recently India was designated as STA-2 countries along with seven others.</span><br />'' <br />