The much-awaited trade talks between India and America are going to start from December 10 in New Delhi. This important meeting is being organized with the aim of taking forward the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) between the two countries. Originally, India and the US had aimed to finalize the first phase of the agreement by the fall of 2025. However, changes in US trade policy, particularly regarding tariffs, have affected this timeline.
According to government sources, India’s Commerce Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal, who is the chief negotiator from the Indian side, recently expressed optimism that the first phase of the India-US bilateral trade agreement could be signed within this calendar year. Addressing the annual general meeting of FICCI, he had said that despite the changing circumstances of global trade, good progress has been made in the talks. “I think our expectations…we are very optimistic and we are confident that we will find a solution within this calendar year,” he said.
It is worth noting that former US President Donald Trump had imposed an import duty of 25% on Indian goods in August 2019, citing India’s continued purchase of Russian oil. The Trump administration had imposed retaliatory import tariffs on countries with which they had trade deficits. Several rounds of talks have already taken place with the United States to finalize a bilateral trade agreement.
The India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) aims to more than double the current US$ 191 billion trade between the two countries to US$ 500 billion by 2030. The formal proposal for this agreement was made as per the instructions of the leadership of both the countries during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington earlier this year.