New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goel and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday began bilateral talks to discuss and finalize the historic US-India Joint statement and the interim agreement as part of the broader India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations.
Greer is in India on an official visit for talks on the trade pact. The meeting is being held at the headquarters of the ministry-Vanijya Bhavan along with the participation of Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal and other senior officials including our chief negotiator Darpan Jain. With the US tariff structure changing, both countries are now reviewing the framework agreement.
These discussions come after chief negotiator-level talks on the agreement held in New Delhi from June 2 to 4. On June 15, Commerce secretary Agarwal had said that talks between the two ministers would focus on giving final shape to the framework agreement. Later, on June 17, US President Donald Trump said the two countries are “very close” to finalize the trade deal.
It may be recalled that India and US had announced on February 7,2026,that they had reached a framework for an interim trade agreement based on reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade. Under that framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on Indian goods from 50 per cent to 18 per cent.
It had also removed 25 per cent tariff imposed on Indian goods linked to India’s purchase of Russian oil and planned to reduce the remaining 25 per cent tariff to 18 per cent under the agreement. However, these tariffs were later struck down by the US Supreme Court that same month.
Following this, the Trump administration on February 24 announced a 10 percent tariff on all countries for 150 days under section 122 of the Trade Act. It is set to expire on July 24. The ongoing discussions between the two sides is considered significant because of these changes in the US tariff regime.
As part of the proposed frame work India offered to eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and several food and agricultural products, including Dried Distillers’ grains
(DDGs), red sorghum used for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruits, soyabean oil, wine and spirits.
India has also expressed its intention to purchase USD 500 billion worth of US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products and cooking coal over the next five years.
Comments are closed.