Hopeful of concluding early tranche of India-US deal before July 9, says commerce secy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump

India is hopeful of concluding an early tranche of the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the United States before July 9, when President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs kick in, commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal said on June 16 amid reports of differences between the two sides over levies.

"We are working out an early tranche, as you are aware, there is a date July 9 before that we would like to conclude that early tranche. Both teams are visiting each other, so there is good progress in talks. So we are hopeful that it will be done within the timelines," Barthwal said at a media briefing in New Delhi .

India and the US are holding talks to seal a scaled-down version of a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) before Trump’s country-specific reciprocal tariff of 16 percent on New Delhi is levied.

Special secretary Rajesh Agarwal added that negotiations for the BTA are going well and both sides are looking forward to continuing engagements both virtually and physically.

He added that the countries aim to complete talks for the more comprehensive first tranche of the BTA by the original deadline of Fall of 2025.

The countries held another round of talks between June 5 and June 10 in New Delhi.

Barthwal added that India is pursuing three key free trade agreements. "First has been concluded with the United Kingdom and will be signed soon, second is with the European Union (EU) and third is the BTA with the US," he said.

For the trade deal with the UK, the process of legal vetting is is expected to be completed within three months since the closure of negotiations, special secretary L Satya Srinivas said.

Once the legal scrubbing is concluded, the countries are expected to sign the deal. However, given Britain's lengthy ratification process, the agreement may take over a year to get operational.

India and the United Kingdom secured a long-pending free trade agreement on May 6, with Indian exports set to benefit from duty elimination on about 99 percent of the tariff lines, covering almost 100 percent of the trade value.

"On the FTA with EU, there are some tracks which are working together this week. The next round of talks is scheduled from July 7," Srinivas said.

With the EU, too, India is aiming to close an early harvest deal by July before brokering a larger pact.

Srinivas added that India and EU are meeting more frequently in a bid to close talks for the trade deal soon. "Good momentum is there and frequency of meetings have picked up. Earlier, we had rounds that were spread in a quarter or more, but now we have reduced the time period between rounds. We are looking at convergence on a large number of issues so that we move towards closure of the deal," he said.

Apart from the US and EU, India is also negotiating trade deals with New Zealand, Peru and Chile.