An official Indian delegation will travel to Washington next week for key trade talks with US authorities, amid shifting tariff dynamics and ongoing negotiations for an interim bilateral agreement.
“An official delegation will visit Washington next week to hold trade talks with US authorities,” an official source said on Wednesday, adding, “The team will visit the US next week.”
Additional Secretary Darpan Jain said, “Indian team to visit Washington for trade talks from April 20.”
The upcoming meeting between trade officials assumes significance as India and the US have already finalised the framework for an interim trade agreement. The pact, initially slated for signing in March, has been delayed following changes in the tariff landscape triggered by a US Supreme Court ruling.
Official sources have earlier indicated that the agreement will be signed once the new global tariff architecture of the US is in place. Under the framework finalised in February, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18 per cent.
However, the situation evolved after the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs. Subsequently, the US imposed a uniform 10 per cent tariff on all countries for 150 days starting February 24, placing India on par with other trading partners.
The shift in tariff policy led to the postponement of a scheduled meeting between the chief negotiators last month, where both sides were expected to finalise the legal text of the agreement.
The upcoming talks also come against the backdrop of two ongoing Section 301 investigations by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). On March 12, the USTR launched a probe covering 60 economies, including India and China, to assess whether their policies on banning imports of goods produced with forced labour are “unreasonable or discriminatory” and whether they “burden or restrict US commerce.”
A day earlier, on March 11, the USTR initiated another Section 301 investigation targeting the policies and industrial practices of 16 economies, including India and China.