The next round of talks with the US on reaching an interim trade agreement will be held on June 5 and 6 in New Delhi, according to a senior official from the ministry of commerce.
“A team of American trade officials are visiting New Delhi on June 5 and 6 for further talks on the trade deal,” said a senior commerce ministry official on May 29.
Earlier in the day, India's chief negotiator, Special Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal, said the talks are progressing well. “Hopefully, in this tough times also, we will be able to navigate and come out with good outcomes sooner than later. We should be able to work out a trade partnership where there are natural comparative advantages to our businesses on both sides.,” he said at CII’s Annual Business Summit, 2025.
“There are only few areas where we (India and the US) compete. Most of the areas are where we can complement each other. If we can do a good trade deal, this can be a defining partnership in the trade arena. And that's what is the intent behind approaching this bilateral trade agreement,” Agarwal said.
Both India and the US intend to conclude an early harvest deal by the third week of June. New Delhi is pushing for full exemption from the 26 percent reciprocal tariff on domestic goods, which have been suspended by the US till July 9.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was in Washington last week to give an impetus to trade talks. He met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick twice during his visit.
Agrawal also concluded his four-day visit to Washington last week for talks on the interim trade deal.
The early harvest deal will be a precursor to the first tranche of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA). While the 26 percent tariffs are currently suspended, Indian goods still attract the 10 per cent baseline tariff imposed by America.
The official further said India is also reviewing the impact of a US trade court blocking most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs in a sweeping ruling on May 28. The Court of International Trade found the president overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from U.S. trading partners.
India has so far offered zero-to-zero tariffs for industrial goods, while the rates on other items are still being negotiated, especially given the sensitivity of the farm and dairy sectors, one of the officials said.
The US remained India's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with bilateral trade valued at $ 131.84 billion. The US accounts for about 18 percent of India's total goods exports, 6.22 percent in imports, and 10.73 percent in the country's total merchandise trade.
The two trading partners look to more than double bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030.
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