Overview
- Chief negotiators Brendan Lynch and Darpan Jain are holding four days of talks in New Delhi, with a focused session resuming on Tuesday to finalise the interim agreement's legal text.
- Indian officials, including Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, say most major points have been settled and current work centres on remaining technical and legal language.
- The talks are recalibrating the February framework after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down IEEPA-based reciprocal tariffs and the administration imposed a temporary 10% universal import tariff, forcing both sides to rewrite tariff commitments.
- March's USTR Section 301 investigations that include India add risk of additional U.S. duties, and New Delhi is pressing for safeguards or relief to be written into the interim pact.
- If remaining issues are resolved, officials expect a first tranche to be signed in the coming weeks or months, unlocking linked market-access moves and large Indian purchase pledges reported at up to $500 billion over five years while opening talks on broader BTA topics like customs, investment and economic-security alignment.