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What is the story about?
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Ambassador to the United States Vinay Kwatra launched the India-USA Trade Facilitation Portal with an aim to move towards Mission 500, a goal set by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President Donald Trump to more than double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.
Virtually addressing the launch of the Portal, India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal termed it a forward-looking initiative that will enable direct engagement between Indian exporters & US importers and provide greater opportunities to further deepen their bilateral trade partnership. The initiative has been designed and anchored by Consulate General of India in New York, in which exporters can register on indiausatrade.mea.gov.in/register
On 2nd April, government sources had indicated that India will talk about signing the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the United States once it gets preferential access, stating that the issue of preferential access will have to be sorted out by the US, with all countries facing 10% tariffs as of now. Indicating that India is sitting on a sweet spot, having got a better deal than its competitors in South-East Asia and neighbouring countries, sources added that India's approach is to get preferential market access into the US market. Both the countries are looking to deepen their multidimensional relationship across sectors.
Last month, India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had met the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC-14) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Cameroon to exchange views on the WTO agenda as well as the next steps in the India-US BTA (Bilateral Trade Agreement) negotiations. On the meeting with the USTR, the Minister had posted on social media: "Had a very productive discussion", and "explored ways to further deepen our economic cooperation and bilateral trade ties."
India is awaiting finalisation of the new tariff structure by the United States to sign the trade agreement finalized by both the sides. On 16th March, government sources had told CNBC-TV18 that when the India-US deal was earlier indicated to be signed in March, the Supreme Court judgement on IEEPA tariffs hadn't yet come. Stating that the previously levied tariffs don't exist now, sources had indicated that 10% tariffs under BOP are in place for 5 months now under Article 122, hence any deal that India signs has to be against a tariff structure or the comparative advantage that India gets in the US market.
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal had noted that India and the US had announced a trade deal on 2nd February 2026, and a Joint Statement for the same was released on 7th February 2026. On 7th February 2026, the 25% additional ad-valorem tariffs imposed by the US on certain Indian exports citing India’s imports of Russian oil were removed.
Pursuant to the US Supreme Court judgement dated 20th February 2026 invalidating reciprocal tariffs, the reciprocal tariffs remain no longer in force. The US Government has issued Executive Orders imposing 10% tariffs pursuant to Section 122 of the Trade Act, 1974 on certain products from all countries. India has said that it remains engaged with the US for a mutually beneficial trade agreement.
Stating that the US is trying to recreate a tariff architecture back globally, sources indicated that both the sides are negotiating to iron out the final details and the actual signing will be done when the new architecture of tariffs will be in place globally. Sources explained that each country is doing a deal as a part of a package where one is at comparative advantage or disadvantage vis-a-vis partner competitiveness, hence India had also decided a deal at a comparative advantage with many other competitive countries.
Virtually addressing the launch of the Portal, India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal termed it a forward-looking initiative that will enable direct engagement between Indian exporters & US importers and provide greater opportunities to further deepen their bilateral trade partnership. The initiative has been designed and anchored by Consulate General of India in New York, in which exporters can register on indiausatrade.mea.gov.in/register
On 2nd April, government sources had indicated that India will talk about signing the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the United States once it gets preferential access, stating that the issue of preferential access will have to be sorted out by the US, with all countries facing 10% tariffs as of now. Indicating that India is sitting on a sweet spot, having got a better deal than its competitors in South-East Asia and neighbouring countries, sources added that India's approach is to get preferential market access into the US market. Both the countries are looking to deepen their multidimensional relationship across sectors.
Last month, India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had met the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC-14) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Cameroon to exchange views on the WTO agenda as well as the next steps in the India-US BTA (Bilateral Trade Agreement) negotiations. On the meeting with the USTR, the Minister had posted on social media: "Had a very productive discussion", and "explored ways to further deepen our economic cooperation and bilateral trade ties."
India is awaiting finalisation of the new tariff structure by the United States to sign the trade agreement finalized by both the sides. On 16th March, government sources had told CNBC-TV18 that when the India-US deal was earlier indicated to be signed in March, the Supreme Court judgement on IEEPA tariffs hadn't yet come. Stating that the previously levied tariffs don't exist now, sources had indicated that 10% tariffs under BOP are in place for 5 months now under Article 122, hence any deal that India signs has to be against a tariff structure or the comparative advantage that India gets in the US market.
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal had noted that India and the US had announced a trade deal on 2nd February 2026, and a Joint Statement for the same was released on 7th February 2026. On 7th February 2026, the 25% additional ad-valorem tariffs imposed by the US on certain Indian exports citing India’s imports of Russian oil were removed.
Pursuant to the US Supreme Court judgement dated 20th February 2026 invalidating reciprocal tariffs, the reciprocal tariffs remain no longer in force. The US Government has issued Executive Orders imposing 10% tariffs pursuant to Section 122 of the Trade Act, 1974 on certain products from all countries. India has said that it remains engaged with the US for a mutually beneficial trade agreement.
Stating that the US is trying to recreate a tariff architecture back globally, sources indicated that both the sides are negotiating to iron out the final details and the actual signing will be done when the new architecture of tariffs will be in place globally. Sources explained that each country is doing a deal as a part of a package where one is at comparative advantage or disadvantage vis-a-vis partner competitiveness, hence India had also decided a deal at a comparative advantage with many other competitive countries.
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