India and US Near Completion of Bilateral Trade Agreement: What’s Next?

Progress on India-US Trade Talks

New Delhi: On Monday, Piyush Goyal, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, announced that the initial phase of the bilateral trade agreement between India and the United States is nearly finalized. A delegation from his ministry is currently in Washington to engage in discussions.

Goyal informed reporters, "We are on the verge of finalizing the free trade agreement, the first phase of our bilateral trade discussions with the US."

He emphasized the importance of establishing a mechanism that would allow India to gain preferential access to the US market over its competitors.

The Indian delegation, led by chief negotiator Darpan Jain, is in the US for a three-day trade negotiation session from April 20 to April 22.

Previously, India and the US had to reschedule a meeting between their chief trade negotiators due to a ruling by the US Supreme Court that invalidated President Trump's extensive reciprocal tariff increases. The court determined that the executive branch had overstepped its constitutional authority by imposing broad import duties using emergency powers.

The Indian team's planned visit to Washington on February 23 to finalize the trade agreement was postponed to allow both nations to assess the implications of the Supreme Court's decision. A new meeting date was agreed upon to accommodate both parties.

Following the Supreme Court's ruling, President Trump increased global tariffs from 10% to 15%.

India and the US were close to finalizing the first phase of their trade agreement, with the Trump administration previously agreeing to lower tariffs on Indian products to 18%. However, the tariff landscape in the US has shifted due to the Supreme Court's ruling.

The upcoming meeting is also expected to address the recent Section 301 investigation initiated by the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which includes India and China among 60 economies under scrutiny.

These investigations aim to determine whether the policies and practices of these economies regarding the enforcement of bans on goods produced with forced labor are unreasonable or discriminatory, potentially impacting US commerce.