India, US begin talks on finer details of trade agreement

Washington : India and the US are negotiating finer details of a bilateral trade agreement in light of the US Supreme Court decision against the sweeping tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

A team of officials, led by Darpan Jain, an additional secretary in the Department of Commerce, is on a three-day visit here to finalise the bilateral trade agreement.

"The Indian trade delegation will be arriving in Washington this week. A great step to finalise our bilateral trade deal. A win-win for both nations," US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said in a post on X on Monday.

India and the US announced the framework of the bilateral trade agreement on February 2 and released the text of the deal on February 7.

India is seeking preferential access to the US markets as part of the agreement, as the two countries eye the target of achieving bilateral trade of $500 billion by 2030.

According to that framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18 percent, from 50 percent. 

It had removed the 25 percent tariffs on Indian goods for buying Russian oil and was to cut the remaining 25 percent to 18 percent under the pact.

But on February 20, the US Supreme Court ruled against Trump's reciprocal tariffs, which were imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). 

However, the Trump administration imposed a 10 percent tariff on all countries from February 24 for 150 days.

As circumstances have changed, every country is engaging with the US to see the nature of its trade agreements with America. -