NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal met US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick late last night for the second meeting within a week as both sides further intensified efforts to agree to the first tranche of Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) before the autumn deadline.
The meeting came after the negotiators from both sides wrapped up their four days of discussions on the BTA in Washington. The first meeting this week had happened on May 20 just when the officials were assembling for the discussions on the deal. Both sides are also exploring an interim agreement before the first tranche of the BTA.
“Held a constructive meeting with Secretary Howard Lutnick for a mutually beneficial trade agreement. Committed to enhancing opportunities for our businesses and people,” Goyal posted on ‘X’ after the meeting. For the earlier meeting the minister had said, “good discussions with Secretary Lutnick towards expediting the first tranche of India-US BTA.
The meeting before the official lebel negotiations were intended to give political guidance to the negotiators. The second meeting took stock of the progress made during the four days of negotiations.
Bloomberg reported US treasury secretary Scott Bessent as saying that he anticipated that trade deals would be announced with other nations ahead of the expiration of the 90-day pause on the steep “reciprocal” rates that President Donald Trump unveiled on April 2.
“These deals are moving quickly, and I think as we approach the end of the 90-day period, we’re going to see more and more of them announced,” Bessent said.
Both India and the US are working to arrive at an understanding on the interim deal before July 8, when the reciprocal tariffs on India get fully implemented. US President Donald Trump has imposed 26% additional tariff on Indian imports but kept its full implementation in abeyance till July 9. Now Indian exports are subject to just 10% extra baseline tariffs.
“Talks are moving positively. Before July 8, we are looking at concluding an interim deal before the first tranche. It will include goods, non-tariff barriers, some areas of services also like digital,” an official had earlier said.
In the interim trade deal, New Delhi is pushing for full exemption from the 26% reciprocal tariff on Indian goods. As per US laws any reduction of tariffs below the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariffs requires approval from the US Congress. But as the reciprocal tariffs were imposed through an executive order under a law dealing with national emergencies, they can be modified by a similar order.
Through the BTA, India and the US are aiming to increase their trade to $ 500 billion by 2030 from $ 190 billion at present. To boost its exports through the trade agreement, India is seeking duty concessions for labour-intensive sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, chemicals, grapes, and bananas in the proposed pact with America.
On the other hand, the US wants duty concessions in sectors like certain industrial goods, automobiles (electric vehicles in particular), wines, petrochemical products, dairy, agriculture items such as apples, and tree nuts.
The US is India’s biggest trade partner. In the just concluded financial year the bilateral goods trade stood at $ 131.84 billion with India’s exports at $ 86.51 billion. Both sides also have a substantial services trade too.
Source: The Financial Express
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