Protecting India's trade interests with the US amid global uncertainty

In the uncertain global environment, India committing to a comprehensive FTA would be risky

On February 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Donald Trump agreed to launch negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement (BTA). A BTA is essentially a free trade agreement (FTA) under a different name, similar to India’s Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Japan and its Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) with Australia. For simplicity, we will refer to it as an FTA from here on.

 

US Vice-President J D Vance and Prime Minister Modi announced the finalisation of the terms of reference (ToRs) for the FTA on April 21. The ToRs set the ambition levels for