MEA clarified on the interim trade deal between India and America, said shared understanding is important…

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has recently given clarification on the changes made in the fact sheet released by the US. The ministry said that these changes reflect a common understanding between India and the US on the interim trade deal.

Let us tell you, while talking to the media, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the basis of common understanding has been formed in the joint statement issued between India and America in February 2026. “The joint statement is a framework and both sides will work to implement it and finalize an interim agreement,” he said.

At the same time, Jaiswal said that the recent changes, which were made in the fact sheet released by America, are part of the understanding between India and America on this issue. Following this change, some important points in the US fact sheet have been softened, such as the earlier more stringent commitment regarding India’s purchase of American products has now been changed to “intent”.

Let us tell you, in the earlier fact sheet released by America, it was said that India has “committed” to increase the purchase of American products, which included energy, information technology, agriculture, coal etc. But now it has been changed to “intended” and agricultural products have been removed from the list.

At the same time, in the old fact sheet it was said that India would eliminate or reduce tariffs on all American industrial goods and food products, which included pulses, soybean oil, wine, spirits etc. The mention of “certain pulses” has now been removed in the updated factsheet.

In an earlier fact sheet, it had been said that India would remove its digital services tax and work on bilateral rules to remove barriers to digital trade. However, the updated version removes the promise of removing the digital services tax and only mentions working on bilateral digital trade rules.

This interim trade agreement between India and America is a step to further strengthen the economic relations between the two countries. Both the countries had reaffirmed their commitment towards a major Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) on February 13, 2025. Under this agreement, India agreed to eliminate tariffs on American industrial and agricultural products, while the US would impose tariffs on products made in India.