India and the US have decided to reschedule the proposed meeting of their chief negotiators in Washington to finalise the text of the interim trade pact, sources said on Sunday.
The Indian team was scheduled to start the three-day meeting on February 23 in the US. Joint Secretary in the Commerce Ministry, Darpan Jain, is the chief negotiator of India for this agreement.
"With regards to the visit of the Indian team of negotiators to the US for the India-US Trade Deal, the two sides are of the view that the proposed visit of the Indian Chief Negotiator and the team be scheduled after each side has had the time to evaluate the latest developments and their implications. The meeting will be rescheduled at a mutually convenient date," a source said.
To finalise the legal text for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, the Indian team is scheduled to meet its counterparts in Washington from February 23-26, 2026. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said the deal may be signed in March and implemented in April.
The India-US trade "deal is on," said Donald Trump, even as the United States Supreme Court ruled that the American president's sweeping emergency tariffs are illegal.
The verdict said the move was a striking loss for the White House on an issue that has been central to the president's foreign policy and economic agenda. The decision is arguably the most important loss the second Trump administration has sustained at the conservative Supreme Court, which has repeatedly sided with the Republican leader in a series of emergency rulings on immigration, the firing of the leaders of independent agencies and deep cuts to government spending.
The ruling sets up a long fight for tariff refunds, as the duties, now deemed illegal, generated some $133.5 billion from January 2025 to mid-December.
Trump on Friday imposed 10 per cent tariffs on all countries, including India, from February 24 for 150 days. On Saturday, he announced to hike the duty to 15 per cent.
Earlier this month, the US and India announced they reached a framework for an interim agreement on trade after Trump issued an executive order removing the 25 per cent punitive tariffs imposed on India for its purchases of Russian oil and reducing the reciprocal duties on New Delhi from 25 per cent to 18 per cent.
The US president claimed that India committed to stop directly or indirectly importing energy from Moscow and instead purchase American energy products.
