Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal announced that the initial phase of the India-US bilateral trade agreement is nearly complete. A team from the ministry is currently in Washington engaging in discussions to finalize the deal. Goyal expressed the aim to secure preferential market access for India in the US market compared to its competitors.
The Indian delegation, led by chief negotiator Darpan Jain, is on a three-day visit to the United States from April 20-22 for trade discussions. The rescheduling of the meeting between the trade negotiators of both countries followed the US Supreme Court’s rejection of President Trump’s broad import duty increases, citing an overreach of emergency powers.
Despite being in the advanced stages of finalizing the first phase of the trade agreement, the tariff landscape in the US shifted after the Supreme Court ruling. President Trump raised global tariffs from 10% to 15%, impacting the tariff reduction agreement on Indian goods. The upcoming meeting is expected to address the US Trade Representative’s recent Section 301 investigation involving India and China among 60 economies.
