NEW DELHI: After a "positive meeting" between Indian and American trade negotiators, the two sides have decided to intensify efforts for a bilateral trade agreement, signaling lower turbulence going forward. Amid a conciliatory tone from American President Donald Trump over the last 10 days, India's chief negotiator Rajesh Agarwal and other officials met a team from USTR led by Brendan Lynch and held day long talks, with sources suggesting that things are getting back on track.
"Acknowledging the enduring importance of bilateral trade between India and the US, the discussions were positive and forward looking covering various aspects of the trade deal. It was decided to intensify efforts to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement," the commerce department said in a statement after the keenly watched meeting.
A US embassy spokesperson too described the meeting "to discuss next steps in trade negotiations" as "positive". Sources said that discussions will now move to virtual platforms, and the two sides are expected to finalise the dates for the sixth round of talks, which were scheduled to begin on Aug 25, but were put off in view of tariff actions on India.
The statement from both sides will provide cheer to exporters who are keen that the US drops the 50% tariffs on Indian goods, which is hurting domestic players.
While Indian goods were facing 25% "reciprocal tariffs" since early Aug, the burden doubled towards the end of last month on account of "secondary sanctions" imposed by Trump due to India's purchase of Russian oil.
Trump has been hitting out at India, calling it the "tariff king" for maintaining high duties on imports and is pushing hard for govt to lower the levies on products of interest to it, including automobiles, whiskey, dairy and farm products. While govt is open to lowering duties on industrial goods, it has concerns over agricultural products such as maize, soybean and dairy products, where it has stated its reluctance, triggering an angry response from Washington which imposed significantly higher "reciprocal tariffs" on India.
"Acknowledging the enduring importance of bilateral trade between India and the US, the discussions were positive and forward looking covering various aspects of the trade deal. It was decided to intensify efforts to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement," the commerce department said in a statement after the keenly watched meeting.
A US embassy spokesperson too described the meeting "to discuss next steps in trade negotiations" as "positive". Sources said that discussions will now move to virtual platforms, and the two sides are expected to finalise the dates for the sixth round of talks, which were scheduled to begin on Aug 25, but were put off in view of tariff actions on India.
The statement from both sides will provide cheer to exporters who are keen that the US drops the 50% tariffs on Indian goods, which is hurting domestic players.
While Indian goods were facing 25% "reciprocal tariffs" since early Aug, the burden doubled towards the end of last month on account of "secondary sanctions" imposed by Trump due to India's purchase of Russian oil.
Trump has been hitting out at India, calling it the "tariff king" for maintaining high duties on imports and is pushing hard for govt to lower the levies on products of interest to it, including automobiles, whiskey, dairy and farm products. While govt is open to lowering duties on industrial goods, it has concerns over agricultural products such as maize, soybean and dairy products, where it has stated its reluctance, triggering an angry response from Washington which imposed significantly higher "reciprocal tariffs" on India.
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