India may be first to strike trade deal with US to dodge Trump tariffs: US Treasury Secretary

US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi - File Photo

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said that India is likely to become the first country to finalise a bilateral trade agreement with the United States to avert President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs.

According to a New York Times report, Bessent told a group of reporters earlier this week that trade talks with India are “very close” to reaching a successful conclusion because the world's most populous nation doesn't have “so many high tariffs”.

“India also has fewer non-tariff trade barriers, obviously, no currency manipulation, very, very little government subsidies, so that reaching a deal with the Indians is much easier,” New York Times quoted Bessent as saying at the Washington DC event on the sidelines of the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings.

Meanwhile, President Trump announced at the White House that India will reduce its high tariffs as part of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) currently being negotiated.

“India charges almost more than any other country in the world. Believe it or not, we do very little business with India because their tariffs are very high. They have amongst the highest tariffs (in the world), higher than China. I understand they are going to reduce those tariffs. It’s really sort of their problem not ours,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, US Vice President JD Vance in Jaipur urged India to drop non-tariff barriers, give greater access to its markets and buy more American energy and military hardware as he laid out a broader roadmap of deeper ties between the two nations for a “prosperous and peaceful” 21st century.

The New York Post quoted data from Census Bureau to say that India accounted for nearly 3 per cent of imported goods to the US as of February. The US had a USD 45.7 billion trade deficit with India in 2024, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

Proposed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s February meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington, a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) between India and the US aims to more than double trade, targeting $500 billion by 2030, a significant increase from the current level of over $190 billion.