 "India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement talks from May 16, Piyush Goyal to lead Indian side")
India’s Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is all set to visit the US on May 16 to lead a trade delegation to advance negotiations, as Washington and New Delhi push for a trade pact.
According to a report by Reuters, Goyal will be accompanied by Rajesh Agrawal, India’s chief negotiator for bilateral trade talks. The minister’s meeting comes weeks after US Vice President JD Vance made an official trip to India last month.
New Delhi is seeking to clinch a trade deal with the US within the 90-day pause on tariff hikes announced by Trump on April 9 for major trading partners, including a 26 per cent tariff on India.
Trade between the US and India totalled around $129 billion in 2024 as Washington retains its position on being New Delhi’s biggest trading partner. The trade balance between the two countries is favourable to India, which runs a $45.7 billion surplus with the US.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US in February, both nations agreed to work on the first segment of a trade deal by the fall of 2025, aiming for bilateral trade worth $500 billion by 2030.
Earlier this week, India proposed to impose retaliatory duties under the WTO (World Trade Organisation) norms against the US over American tariffs on steel and aluminium in the name of safeguard measures.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“The safeguard measures would affect $7.6 billion imports into the US of the relevant products originating in India, on which the duty collection would be $1.91 billion,” a WTO communication said.
Accordingly, it said, India’s proposed suspension of concessions would result in an equivalent amount of duty collected from products originating in America. In March, the US imposed 25 per cent levies on steel and aluminium imports - an extension of tariffs first imposed in 2018 during Trump’s first presidency.
In addition to its attempts to stem supply domestically, New Delhi is also trying to secure greater access for Indian steel exports through trade talks with partner countries.
With inputs from agencies
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