India-US trade talks: Most sticky issues resolved, says Commerce Secretary

However, the secretary did not put a timeline on the finalisation of the deal, nor did he put a number on the level of convergence achieved by both sides

Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Monday that most of the contentious or “sticky” issues in the proposed trade deal between India and the United States (US) have been resolved, signalling progress towards closure of the first tranche of the agreement. However, the secretary did not give a timeline for the finalisation of the deal, or put a number on the level of convergence achieved on both sides.

 

“Most of the sticky issues are more or less resolved. So we are progressing fast.” Agrawal said during a post-Budget interaction with news channel CNBCTV18. “When it will happen, how fast will it happen? These are the questions I'll not put a date to, but we are hopeful that we should get it sooner than later,” he said. 

 

 

As far as the proposed agreement is concerned, two frameworks are still in place — an early harvest deal and a larger framework or Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) — which will take time to materialise, because a deep and wider FTA takes longer to materialise. The near-term focus is on the early harvest deal, which can address the reciprocal tariffs.

 

“Largely reciprocal tariffs are in the good space. So, one of the key discussions in this is how we are able to align our tariffs on both sides, to see that we work towards a more balanced trade between the two nations. That is going to be the core of whatever we achieve in the first (tranche),” Agrawal said, adding that the early harvest pact will also look into areas such as non-tariff measures that both sides face.

 

India-US BTA negotiations were launched in March and have so far included half a dozen rounds of talks. The most recent informal discussions took place in New Delhi during the visit of a trade team headed by the deputy US Trade Representative (USTR) in December. Thereafter, discussions were on pause due to the year-end holiday season, amid the missed ‘Fall’ deadline and uncertainty regarding the finalisation of the deal. Both sides are currently engaged virtually. No fresh in-person rounds of discussion have been planned yet.