New Delhi: India and the US made positive progress during three-day trade talks in Washington this week, with both sides agreeing to remain engaged to sustain the momentum going forward, the government said on Friday.
About a dozen officers from India were in Washington during April 20-22 to hold discussions with the US authorities on finalising the details of the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA).
The talks deliberated on issues including market access, non-tariff measures, technical barriers to trade, customs and trade facilitation, investment promotion, economic security alignment and digital trade, the commerce ministry said in a statement.
“The meetings were conducted in a constructive and positive spirit, with meaningful and forward-looking discussions enabling progress on key matters. Both sides agreed to remain engaged to maintain this momentum as they move forward,” it said.
As the tariff landscape has changed in the US, both sides are relooking at the framework of the agreement, the text of which was released on February 7.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has said India is a “tough nut to crack”.
Following the decision of the US Supreme Court against the sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on a number of countries, the Trump administration imposed a 10 per cent tariff on all countries from February 24 for 150 days.
According to that framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18 per cent, from 50 per cent. It had removed the 25 per cent tariffs on Indian goods for buying Russian oil and was to cut the remaining 25 per cent to 18 per cent 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).
After that, the President announced the imposition of 10 per cent tariffs on all countries for 150 days, starting February 24.
Under the agreed framework, India proposed to eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains (DDGs), red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products.
India had also expressed its intentions to purchase USD 500 billion of US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products, and coking coal over the next five years.
The meeting was also important as when India finalised the deal, it enjoyed a comparative advantage over its competitor countries. Now, with all US trading partners facing a uniform 10 per cent tariff, the pact requires recalibration.
So the agreement will have to be recalibrated, and redrafted, a government source had said.
As the circumstances have changed, every country is engaging with the US to see what is going to be the nature of their trade agreements with America.
Further, the US Trade Representative (USTR) in March had launched two unilateral investigations against a number or countries including India.
India has strongly rejected allegations made by the US Trade Representative in those two investigations under its Section 301 of trade law and has requested to terminate the probes as the initiation notice has failed to provide cogent rationale to substantiate the claims.
China has overtaken the US to emerge as India’s largest trading partner in 2025-26. The US was India’s largest trading partner for four consecutive years till 2024-25.
The country’s outbound shipments to the US grew marginally 0.92 per cent to USD 87.3 billion during the last fiscal year, while imports increased 15.95 per cent to USD 52.9 billion. The trade surplus declined to USD 34.4 billion in 2025-26 from USD 40.89 billion in 2024-25.
