BTA push: Indian team to visit US next week to discuss modalities

This will be the first in-person meeting between the officials from India and the US since the finalisation and signing of the terms of reference of the proposed trade deal in March

A team of Indian officials will visit the United States (US) next week to kickstart discussions to finalise the modalities of an “early tranche” of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) that both sides are attempting to complete within the next three months.

 

 The team, headed by chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal, will be on a three-day visit to Washington starting April 23.

 

“The terms of reference (ToRs) have been signed. It will now be further developed and discussed. The broader agenda of the visit is to have discussions on what will be the ambition (extent to which commitment can be made on liberalisation of trade), the area of negotiations, and what will be the pathway,” a senior government official said on Saturday. The ToR will include areas such as tariff, non-tariff barriers, rules of origins, customs facilitations.

 

Talks may include discussions on the key ask lists across various sectors, including the “sensitive” agriculture sector. “Non-tariff barriers and regulatory barriers (intellectual property rights, visa, totalisation agreement, government procurement) that both sides need to address through the deal could be discussed,” the official cited above said, adding that there will also be discussions on the  scheduling of the negotiations. 

 

This will be the first in-person meeting between the officials from both sides since the finalisation and signing of the terms of reference of the proposed trade deal in March. Agrawal’s sudden visit also signals urgency on both sides to utilise the 90-day pause window for the imposition of tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump.

 

The visit comes a month after Assistant US Trade Representative (USTR) Brendan Lynch's trip to New Delhi in March.

 

It is learnt that even as India and the US remain focused on the BTA, they are exploring a carve out for an early tranche or an interim trade deal by July 9, provided the ongoing talks progress well and the outcome is a ‘win-win’ for both nations. 

 

With Washington pausing country-specific reciprocal tariffs on most countries for three months – starting April 9 – the time is being seen as a window to finalise an interim deal.

 

In February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump had said that both sides hope to finalise the first phase of a mutually beneficial, multi-sectoral BTA by the fall (September-October) of this year, with an aim to more than double the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. 

 

Earlier this week, a senior commerce department official had said that India and the US are trying to finalise a trade deal as “quickly as possible”, with both sides gearing up for launch negotiations by the second-half of May. India is also looking at non-tariff barriers as well as tariff barriers in the agreement. If these barriers are reduced by both sides, it will lead to higher growth in trade for both countries.

 

India has decided to follow the trade liberalisation path with the US. The BTA, if finalised, will open huge opportunities for both India and US businesses, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal had said on Tuesday.