Industrial goods tariffs be India's focus during trade talks with US: GTRI

India must remain focused on negotiating only industrial goods tariffs during the upcoming talks with Assistant US Trade Representative Brendan Lynch this week, Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Institute (GTRI) said on Tuesday.

 

Lynch, along with a team of US government officials, is in India for a five-day visit, starting March 25 for meetings with the Indian side, as part of the ongoing bilateral trade discussions between the two countries. The discussions will hammer out the details of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), with the aim to finalise the contours of the deal.

 

Both sides hope to finalise the first tranche of the agreement by the fall of 2025.

 

It recommended that India should eliminate tariffs on 90 per cent of industrial tariff lines, if the US does the same. This strategy would cover over 90 per cent of India-US bilateral merchandise trade.

 

It further recommended that India should not engage in discussions around intellectual property, digital trade, agricultural tariffs or subsidies, or government procurement.

 

That apart, talks about easing regulations for US giants like Tesla, Starlink, Amazon, and American pharma firms raise serious concerns around national security, IPR, and the long-term impact on Indian businesses, it stated.

 

Last month, India tried to address US President Donald Trump’s concerns by cutting basic customs duties on a bunch of items in its Union Budget, as well as on bourbon whiskey before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Trump.

 

“India’s recent unilateral reduction of tariffs on US products like whiskey and motorcycles has gone unacknowledged by the US side,” it said.

 

In another report, GTRI said that India must be cautious while negotiating the proposed BTA with the US since the absence of ‘Fast Track Trade Authority’ (FTTA) in America makes any pact vulnerable to Congressional changes.

 

FTTA is a special power that the US Congress gives to the president to help speed up and simplify trade negotiations with other countries. However, the US currently lacks FTTA.

 

“In addition, the US uses a one-sided certification process pressurising the partner countries after a trade deal is signed. These two factors create serious uncertainty. They can allow the US to change the deal later or demand more than what was originally agreed,” the report said.

 

It also said that the absence of FTTA exposes any finalised agreement to unpredictable legislative intervention in Washington.

 

“As negotiations continue, the path forward demands not only diplomatic skill, but also vigilance against legal asymmetries embedded in America’s trade playbook. Without Fast Track Authority in place and with the precedent of post-agreement certification allowing the US to impose additional demands, the risk of asymmetric obligations is real,” it said.