Assistant US trade representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch arrived at the ministry of commerce and industry at Vanijya Bhawan after landing in New Delhi September 16.
The top trade negotiator is leading a US delegation as both New Delhi and Washington seek to resolve bilateral trade issues after US President Donald Trump imposed a tariff of 50 percent on India, the highest in Asia. In addition, US defense officials and Boeing Co. executives are also due in India this week to negotiate the sale of about $4 billion of naval surveillance aircraft.
Rajesh Agarwal, special secretary in the department of commerce, will lead India's trade team.
In the last few months, both sides made efforts to strike an interim trade deal. However, reservations from India over the opening of agriculture and dairy sectors to US firms along with the "unfair and unreasonable" imposition of secondary tariffs for buying Russian oil hampered the trade negotiations.
Agriculture and dairy are critical for India as these two sectors provide livelihood opportunities to a large section of people.
The tensions further escalated after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China to meet President Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin. The straining of ties led to the cancellation of a scheduled talks between New Delhi and Washington officials on August 25.
India and the US initiated talks for a just, balanced, and mutually beneficial Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) in March this year, aiming to complete the first stage of the Agreement by October-November 2025.
New Delhi is responding to the visits with cautious optimism, indicating that more needs to be done to reset ties, Bloomberg reported. The US and India had previously committed to a bilateral agreement to be completed by the fall of this year. Moreover, Trump has asked his allies to impose more tariffs on India and China to put pressure on Russia.
Trump has said he will speak with PM Modi in the coming weeks. Modi’s officials have repeatedly said they’ll continue to purchase Russian oil as long as it is financially viable.
With agency inputs
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