‘Expect First Tranche…’: Commerce Secretary Shares Big Update on India-US Trade Deal

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Delhi: India and the United States may sign the first tranche of long awaited trade deal after months of delay by the year end, said Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal.The Commerce Secretary made this statement before a gathering at the FICCI Annual General Meeting mentioning that there has been substantial progress despite recent shifts in global trade conditions and now it’s just a matter of time when the first tranche is signed. Speaking on the progress made so far concerning the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the United States, Rajesh Agarwal said, “I think our expectations, we are very optimistic and very hopeful that we should find a solution within this calendar year."

Can The Year End Deadline Be Delayed Further?

Though the Commerce Secretary mentioned that they expect the first trade tranche by year end, he did leave room for other possibilities and scenarios saying there are also chances of not meeting the deadline because if there is even a single issue in the minds of even a single partner then it may get delayed. Further speaking on the matter and addressing the delay in securing the trade deal, Commerce Secretary said that there has been a lot of changes in the global trade landscape especially the reciprocal tariffs which were imposed almost on all the trading partners including India. "We have found lot of changes in the global trade landscape. One of the key has been in the US landscape, where it came out with reciprocal tariffs, which were imposed on all the trading partners…,” Rajesh Agarwal said.

India-US Engaged in Parallel Negotiations

The Commerce Secretary informed that due to these concerns, India and US are engaged in two parallel negotiations. One on the Bilateral Trade Agreement and second on finding a more immediate Framework Trade Deal, aimed at addressing high tariffs imposed on India. Speaking on the immediate framework, the Commerce Secretary said that the discussions have advanced considerably. “We are close, we have tried to iron out most of the issues. Now it is only matter of time when this decision has to be taken, that when the two countries have to find the right landing zone to announce it,“ Agarwal said. "I think we need to find pathway for complete elimination of reciprocal tariff in our process of doing (full) BTA. So I think that will take a bit of time, and we'll not hurry up those we are working on various aspects of BTA," the secretary said, reiterating hopes for the first tranche very soon. Summing up the state of talks, Agarwal said that he thinks they are in a zone where one can say "it is something that we can achieve in a very short while."India and the US were initially aiming to complete the first tranche of an India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement by fall of 2025, but new developments in the US trade policy landscape, that include tariffs, have altered those plans.Meanwhile, the BTA, formally proposed in February following directives from the leadership of both nations, seeks to more than double bilateral trade, from the current USD 191 billion to USD 500 billion by 2030. Talks were first announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington earlier this year. In recent months, negotiations have continued despite tariff escalations by the United States. US President Donald Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods starting August 1, followed by another 25 per cent increase days later, citing India's continued purchase of Russian oil. The US had imposed reciprocal tariffs on several countries where it faces trade deficits.With inputs from ANI