Donald Trump and Narendra Modi
A big update is coming out regarding the trade deal between India and America. It is reported that US officials are once again coming to India and India-America are going to start three-day talks soon on the first part of their proposed bilateral trade agreement. According to reports, this conversation will start from December 10th. India and America are working to finalize the first part of this agreement. The talks will start from 10th and continue till 12th December and this is not a formal phase of talks. The US team will be led by Deputy United States Trade Representative (USTR) Rick Switzer.
According to CNBC report, this visit of US officials is their second visit after 25% tax and additional 25% penalty was imposed on Indian goods coming to the American market for purchasing crude oil from Russia. US officials last visited India on September 16. On September 22, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also led a government team to the US for trade talks. Goyal had also gone to Washington in May. The US’s chief negotiating officer for this agreement is Brendan Lynch, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, while the Indian side is being led by Darpan Jain, Joint Secretary in the Department of Commerce.
This conversation is also necessary because Commerce Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal has recently said that India hopes to sign a framework trade deal with the US this year, so that the tariff issue can be resolved for the benefit of Indian exporters. Noting that a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) will take time, Agarwal also said India is in lengthy talks with the US on a framework trade deal that will resolve the mutual tariff dilemma faced by Indian exporters.
Two types of conversations are taking place
India and US are having two types of talks. One on a framework trade deal to resolve tariffs and the other on the entire trade deal. In February, leaders of both countries directed officials to negotiate an agreement. The first part of the agreement was planned to be completed by the fall of 2025. So far, six rounds of talks have taken place. The objective of this agreement is to increase trade between the two countries from the current USD 191 billion to USD 500 billion by 2030.
The US remains India’s largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with trade between the two countries amounting to $131.84 billion ($86.5 billion in exports). The US’s share in India’s total merchandise exports is about 18%, 6.22% in imports and 10.73% in total merchandise trade. According to exporters, this agreement is necessary because India’s merchandise exports to the US declined for the second consecutive month in October, falling by 8.58% to $6.3 billion due to heavy tariffs imposed by Washington.