India can drop tariffs on 90% of US exports but reciprocity a must, says GTRI's Ajay Srivastava

US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi

President Trump’s claim that India has offered to drop all tariffs on US goods has sparked speculation over the progress of the India-US trade deal. Global Trade Research Initiative's (GTRI) founder Ajay Srivastava has said that New Delhi could offer to make 90 percent of American exports tariff-free from day one using a ‘zero-for-zero’ approach.

However, GTRI said India should keep automobile and agriculture out of any trade deal with the US. "…the deal must ensure strict reciprocity, with both sides eliminating tariffs equally," said GTRI’s Srivastava.

US President Trump, in Qatar during a meeting with business leaders, said on May 15 that India has made an offer to drop all tariffs on US goods. The Indian government is yet to officially respond this, though CNN-News18 reported citing sources that the deal is not final yet, and any tariff relief will have to work both ways.

Trump said India has “offered us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariff.” No further details on the 'offer' were shared.

The statement comes just days ahead of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal's US visit starting May 16 with a delegation to advance trade talks, government officials have said. Goyal’s visit follows US Vice President JD Vance’s trip to New Delhi in April in an effort to secure a deal to avoid US tariffs.

India is in the middle of a trade negotiation with the US, and talks are set to resume later this month. While the first tranche of the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) may be finalised only by September or October, India is said to be aiming to firm up talks in the next 45 days for a scaled-down version.

Just a day ago, India had proposed to impose retaliatory duties on the United States under WTO norms, in response to American tariffs on steel and aluminium. According to a WTO communication, these US safeguard measures would impact $7.6 billion worth of imports of relevant Indian-origin products, with an estimated duty collection of $1.91 billion.