The United States and India will work in the coming weeks to finalise an interim trade agreement, with the aim of concluding a mutually beneficial Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), the White House said.

In a fact sheet titled ‘The United States and India Announce Historic Trade Deal (Interim Agreement)’, issued days after the two sides unveiled a joint framework, the White House said negotiations would continue on outstanding issues, including services and investment, labour and government procurement.

The fact sheet said India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of American food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, certain pulses, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products. India has also committed to buy more American goods and to purchase over USD 500 billion worth of US energy, information and communication technology, agricultural, coal and other products.

Under a section titled ‘Prosperous Path Forward’, the fact sheet said US President Donald Trump continues to advance the interests of the American people by enhancing market access for exporters and lowering tariff and non-tariff barriers to protect economic and national security.

“India has maintained some of the highest tariffs on the United States of any major world economy, with tariffs as high as an average of 37 per cent for agricultural goods and more than 100 per cent on certain autos. India also has a history of imposing highly protectionist non-tariff barriers that have banned and prohibited many US exports to India,” the fact sheet said.

“In the coming weeks, the United States and India will promptly implement this framework and work toward finalising the Interim Agreement with a view to concluding a mutually beneficial BTA to lock in benefits for American workers and businesses,” it said.

The announcement provides a “tangible path forward” with India and underscores the President’s commitment to achieving balanced and reciprocal trade with a key partner.

The fact sheet further said that, in line with the BTA roadmap, the two sides will “continue negotiations to address the remaining tariff barriers, additional non-tariff barriers, technical barriers to trade, customs and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, trade remedies, services and investment, intellectual property, labour, environment, government procurement, and trade-distorting or unfair practices of state-owned enterprises.” It added that India will address non-tariff barriers affecting bilateral trade in priority areas.

The United States and India will also negotiate rules of origin to ensure that agreed benefits accrue predominantly to both countries.

According to the fact sheet, India will remove its digital services taxes and has committed to negotiate a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules to address discriminatory or burdensome practices and other barriers to digital trade, including rules prohibiting customs duties on electronic transmissions.

The two countries have also committed to strengthening economic security alignment to boost supply chain resilience and innovation, including cooperation on investment reviews, export controls and addressing non-market policies of third parties. Bilateral trade in technology products will be significantly increased, along with expanded joint technology cooperation.

The White House noted that Trump announced the trade deal with India last Friday, saying it would open up the Indian market of over 1.4 billion people to American products.

The joint statement followed a call between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, “in which the leaders reached a framework for an Interim Agreement on reciprocal trade and reaffirmed their commitment to broader US-India Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations.” It added that Trump agreed to remove the additional 25% tariff on imports from India in "recognition of India’s commitment to stop purchasing” Russian oil, and signed an Executive Order last Friday to that effect.

“Given India’s willingness to align with the United States to confront systemic imbalances in the bilateral trade relationship and shared national security challenges, the United States will lower the Reciprocal Tariff on India from 25% to 18%.