The Indian team will visit the US this week for trade talks amid tariff tension

A high-level Indian delegation will travel to the United States this week for another round of trade negotiations, marking a major step towards the proposed bilateral trade agreement between the two countries.

Last Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with US President Donald Trump and said that good progress had been made in trade negotiations between the two countries.

Talks on the agreement have been ongoing since February, when the leaders of the two countries instructed their officials to work towards reaching an agreement and finalizing the first batch of it by the fall of 2025. Five rounds of negotiations have already been completed. “The Indian team will visit this week,” an official told news agency PTI, stressing that the discussions are on the right track and progressing well.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal visited New York last month, where he led an official delegation to hold trade consultations with his American counterparts. After this meeting, the two sides agreed to continue negotiations for the “early conclusion of a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement.”

During his visit to the US, Goyal held discussions with United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamison Greer and US Ambassador-designate to India Sergio Gore, which covered multiple aspects of the proposed trade framework.

The negotiations come against the backdrop of a reciprocal 25 percent tariff and an additional 25 percent fine imposed by the United States on Indian goods, in response to India’s continued purchase of Russian crude oil. This effectively subjects Indian exports to an additional 50 per cent import duty, underscoring the importance of the FTA in easing trade frictions.

The agreement aims to double the volume of bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, up from $191 billion currently. The United States remained India’s largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with total trade value at $131.84 billion, including $86.5 billion in exports from India.

Currently, the United States accounts for about 18% of India’s total merchandise exports, 6.22% of its imports, and 10.73% of the country’s total merchandise trade, making the proposed agreement pivotal to New Delhi’s foreign trade strategy.