Indian team likely to visit US next week for trade deal talks
A team of Commerce Ministry officials will soon travel to Washington to fine-tune the nuances of the interim trade deal with the US.
Sources in the ministry said wrinkles in tariff negotiations across sectors, including farm goods, needed to be ironed out for the pact to be finalised.
The visit will come after US President Donald Trump extended the deadline for reciprocal tariff implementation from July 9 to August 1. Trump recently said a deal with India was “coming soon”.
Ministry officials said negotiations would take place on both interim and the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) during the delegation’s visit, the dates for which were being worked out. It would most likely be next week.
Rajesh Agrawal, India’s chief negotiator, had led the last round of talks in Washington, managing to close the gaps in many sectors. Only certain issues in the agriculture and auto sectors are now pending for resolution.
India is unwilling to grant concessions to the US in agriculture and dairy sectors, which are politically sensitive segments and impact the livelihood of farmers. The forthcoming visit of Indian officials would be key to finalisation of the trade pact with the US, which has announced hefty tariffs for several other countries. Trump had earlier announced reciprocal tariff of 26 per cent on India.
Last week, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India does not enter into any trade agreement based on deadlines and would accept the proposed trade deal with the US only when it was fully finalised, properly concluded and in the national interest.
The FTAs are possible only when both sides benefit and it should be a win-win agreement, he has said when asked about the proposed interim trade agreement with the US.
The US wants duty concessions on certain industrial goods, automobiles, especially electric vehicles, wines, petrochemical products, and agri goods, like dairy items, apples, tree nuts and genetically modified crops.
On the other hand, India is seeking duty concessions for labour-intensive sectors, such as textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, grapes, and bananas in the proposed trade pact.
Ironing out wrinkles
- Negotiations to include various sectors, including agriculture and dairy products
- US President Donald Trump had earlier announced 26% reciprocal tariff on India
- Tariff deadline was to end on July 9, but Trump allowed India a 3-week breather till Aug 1
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