Overview
- Negotiators opened three days of talks in Washington on Monday, with India’s Darpan Jain leading a roughly dozen‑member team to recalibrate the first phase of a bilateral trade pact.
- The reset follows the US Supreme Court’s February 20 ruling against reciprocal tariffs and a temporary 10% tariff on all countries from February 24 for 150 days, which erased India’s earlier edge under the draft deal.
- The February 7 framework had the US cutting tariffs on Indian goods to 18% and scrapping a 25% penalty linked to Russian oil purchases, while India offered broad tariff cuts on US industrial and farm goods and signaled up to $500 billion in purchases over five years.
- Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the first tranche is almost finalised and that India will press for a mechanism that delivers preferential access to the US market.
- The agenda also takes up two US Trade Representative Section 301 probes that India disputes and wants dropped, as the talks unfold with China now India’s top trading partner and India’s US trade surplus narrowing.