India-US working towards fair trade deal, says govt

The three-day trade negotiations between India and the United States have made good progress, with both countries agreeing to maintain the momentum going forward, according to a statement issued by the Union Ministry of Commerce on Friday.

The discussions, held in Washington from April 20 to 22, focused on finalising the details of the first phase of the proposed trade agreement between the two nations.

According to the Commerce Ministry, the talks covered several areas, including market access, non-tariff measures, technical barriers to trade, customs and trade facilitation, investment promotion, economic security alignment and digital trade.

Addressing the media earlier, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said trade discussions were continuous and beneficial. He said both sides were working towards a fair, balanced and ambitious trade deal that would help achieve the target of USD 500 billion in bilateral trade by 2030, while taking into account each other’s priorities and concerns.

Earlier, on February 2, India and the US had outlined the framework for their bilateral trade agreement.

Under the earlier framework, the US had proposed reducing tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent, while India had offered tariff concessions across industrial goods and a wide range of agricultural products.

However, US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), were struck down by the US Supreme Court on February 20.

To safeguard its interests under the new international tariff framework, India is now seeking to recalibrate and redraw the agreement following the court’s ruling.