A US delegation led by its assistant commerce consultant for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch arrived in India on Tuesday to participate in negotiations on the contours of the proposed bilateral commerce settlement (BTA). The talks will formally start on Wednesday and proceed until Saturday.
“Each nations plan to barter a mutually useful, multi-sector bilateral commerce settlement. Each nations would concentrate on growing market entry, decreasing tariff and non-tariff limitations, enhancing provide chain integration and resolving bilateral commerce points,” Union minister of state for commerce Jitin Prasada stated within the Lok Sabha.
The BTA was introduced in a joint assertion following a gathering between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in Washington in February.
India and the US are aiming to conclude the BTA by the tip of this yr. Indian and US officers are anticipated to resolve on the schedule of negotiations and phrases of reference of the BTA. The settlement will likely be in tranches and within the first tranche, the liberalisation of commerce on items would be the focus, officers stated.
The go to by the US group comes only a fortnight after commerce minister Piyush Goyal’s journey to the US for discussions with US commerce consultant Jamieson Greer and US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.
Officers stated the talks will centre on the BTA, and the upcoming reciprocal tariffs by the US that may kick in April 2 might not function in it. They stated that it’s not but recognized whether or not these reciprocal tariffs will likely be particular to any sector, product or nation.
If the US imposes country-level tariffs, Indian exports might face a further levy of 4.9%, in contrast with the present 2.8%. On the sector stage, farm exports can be hit the toughest, with shrimp, dairy, and processed meals going through tariffs of as much as 38.2%. In industrial items, prescription drugs will face a further responsibility of 10.9%, diamonds and jewelry 13.3%, and electronics 7.2%. Petroleum, minerals, and clothes could also be unaffected because of the current tariffs, in response to an evaluation by the World Commerce Analysis Initiative.
The US is the most important marketplace for items and companies for India. In keeping with information from the US commerce consultant’s workplace, India’s commerce surplus with the US was $45.7 billion in 2024, a development of 5.4% over 2023. Complete items commerce between the 2 nations was $129.2 billion in 2024, with India’s exports at $87.4 billion, up 4.5% on yr whereas imports have been $41.8 billion, up 3.4% on yr.
function fbEventScript(){
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘444470064056909’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
window.removeEventListener( ‘load’, fbEventScript );
}
if ( 1 === parseInt( delay ) ) {
window.addEventListener( ‘load’, fbEventScript );
} else {
fbEventScript();
}
