NEW DELHI, India — India is “very close” to concluding an interim trade agreement with the United States aimed at lowering tariffs, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Monday, while stopping short of setting a specific timeline for the deal.
“We are very close on closing the initial framework deal, but I don’t want to put a timeline to it,” Agrawal told reporters in New Delhi.
He said India and the U.S. have completed six rounds of discussions covering both a broader bilateral trade agreement and a narrower interim deal focused on reducing reciprocal tariffs. “There’s a fair expectation that both countries will be able to agree to a deal to lower reciprocal tariffs,” he said.
Agrawal said the recent visit of the U.S. Deputy Trade Representative was intended to review the overall state of trade relations and assess progress on both the bilateral trade agreement and the interim framework.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has also indicated progress in negotiations, recently saying that Washington has received the “best-ever offers from India” on the proposed trade pact.
Speaking at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing in Washington, Greer noted that resistance remains in India over opening its market to certain U.S. agricultural products, including corn, soybeans, wheat and cotton.
Responding to allegations by some American officials that India is “dumping” rice in the U.S. market, Agrawal dismissed the claims. “More than 80 percent of our rice exports to the U.S. is Basmati rice, which is higher than the general price of rice, so there is no case of dumping here,” he said. He added that India already imposes a 50 percent tariff on rice and does not see additional duties being introduced at this stage.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump also held a telephone conversation last week following the visit of a high-level U.S. delegation to New Delhi for trade talks.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has rolled out several measures to cushion the economy from the impact of U.S. tariffs, including cuts in GST rates, export promotion packages to diversify markets and the introduction of labor reforms.
India is also stepping up efforts to diversify its export destinations. As part of this push, the government is examining around 300 products — including engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, agricultural products and chemicals — that could be exported to Russia, with the two countries targeting bilateral trade of $100 billion by 2030. (Source: IANS)
