NEW DELHI: India has not brought up the issue of reciprocal tariffs in its discussions with the US, and talks are concentrating on the scope of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) and the ways to increase the bilateral trade to $ 500 billion by 2030.
“It is not known whether reciprocal tariffs will be sectoral, product-based or country-wide. We have not broached this subject. We are discussing what the India-US joint statement talks about,” a senior official said.
The official said that the scope and nature of the BTA will be finalised soon. “All the schedules and (other details) we will finalise in due course. Give us 2-3 weeks (to define contours of the scheme) ,” he added.
The joint statement agreed during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on February 13 to increase bilateral trade to $ 500 billion by 2030 from around $ 200 billion and negotiate a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) to get to that goal.
Following the meeting between Modi and Trump, both sides have been engaging at multiple levels on the BTA. Between March 4 and March visited the US to follow up on the BTA. There he met US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick.
Following the commerce minister’s visit both sides continue to engage virtually.
The study by the US on disadvantages in terms of tariff and non-tariff barriers that the US businesses face in other markets is to be completed by April 1 and based on that study the reciprocal tariffs will be imposed. “They are completing the investigation by April 1, after that they are asking for recommendations. They will evaluate. Nobody is sure about whether reciprocal tariffs will come on April 2,” the official said.
“We will be discussing bilateral issues between the two countries. All those issues that are important to both countries will be part of the discussions. We are very proactively engaged with the US on this issue,” commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said.
On whether the BTA will be structured like any other FTA that India is negotiating, he said, “We are discussing all of these issues. In any bilateral trade agreement, issues between the two countries will be taken up. What legal form it will take you will have to wait and see.”
Source: The Financial Express
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