New Delhi:
Negotiations for the proposed bilateral trade agreement between India and the US are progressing “very” well and a team will soon be leaving for Washington to further give an impetus to the talks, a top government official said on Thursday.
Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said that an Indian team will be going to Washington for further discussions.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will lead the team of senior Indian officials to Washington for discussions, starting May 17, with their US counterparts on the agreement.
He will hold meetings with US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during his visit.
While Goyal will be in Washington from May 17-20, India’s chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal will hold the deliberations with his US counterpart from May 19-22.
The talks come against the backdrop of both countries exploring the possibility of an interim trade arrangement in goods to secure “early mutual wins” ahead of finalising the first phase of the trade agreement by fall (September-October) this year.
“The talks are continuing, they are progressing very well and a team is slated to go to the US to conduct further talks with the US team,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump in Doha has claimed that India has agreed to “zero tariffs” on several American goods as against its “highest” tariffs.
“India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world. It is very hard to sell in India. They have offered us a deal where basically they are willing to — literally — they charge us no tariff.
“We go from the highest tariff — you could not do business in India, we are not even in the top 30 in India because the tariff is so high — to a point where they have actually told us that there will be no tariff. Would you say that is the difference? They were the highest, and now they are saying no tariff,” Trump said in Doha.
Interacting with reporters on the sidelines of an event here, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, these are complicated negotiations and nothing is decided till everything is.
“Between India and the US, trade talks have been going on, negotiations have been going on, in fact, I think, a team is just going, at this point. These are very complicated negotiations, they are very intricate, and nothing is decided till everything is.
“But, any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial, any trade deal has to work for both the countries, and I think that would be our expectation from the trade deal, and until that is done, I think any judgment on it would be premature,” he said.
When asked about the deadline to conclude these negotiations, an official said that there is a target to conclude the first tranche by fall (September-October) of this year.
“Let’s see, how fast we can get this deal done. We want to conclude it as early as possible,” the official said adding there is also a target to double the bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030.
“So we are moving in that direction. Exports and imports are growing from both sides. We are committed to increasing the level of trade with the US. We are on the right track and the BTA will further improve this relationship,” the official added.
The main issues that will figure in the negotiations during the visit of the Indian team include market access, rules of origin, and non-tariff barriers.
Through these discussions, officials from New Delhi and Washington aim to take advantage of the 90-day tariff pause window to advance the talks.
The US has suspended the additional 26 per cent tariffs on India till July 9. It was announced on April 2 to bridge the widening trade deficit.
However, the 10 per cent baseline tariff imposed on the countries will continue to remain in place.
To give impetus to the talks, India’s Chief Negotiator for BTA Rajesh Agrawal, special secretary in the Department of Commerce, and Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch had last month held three-day talks in Washington.
Before that in March, Goyal held bilateral meetings with Greer and Lutnick.
India and the US have already initiated sectoral-level talks for the pact.
The US remained India’s largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with bilateral trade valued at USD 131.84 billion. The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India’s total goods exports, 6.22 per cent in imports, and 10.73 per cent in the country’s total merchandise trade.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
