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India is on the right track to seal an intermediate trade agreement with the United States as soon as Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs avert this week, two people who have been informed about the talks.
The intermediate contract, which would be one of the first with a large US trade partner, would be a first step towards a comprehensive bilateral agreement between Washington and Neu -Delhi. The two countries said that they would try to conclude the first tranche of the full agreement by autumn.
India Faces tariffs of up to 26 percent, to the highest against a large economy, among the taxes that Trump presented on April 2. The US President has set a period of July 9 for new trade agreements to avert the taxes.
Rajesh Agarwal, who heads the Indian delegation, was in Washington on Monday to try to iron the final details of the deal. S Jaishankar, India’s Foreign Minister, will probably have one-on-one discussions on Tuesday or Wednesday at the sidelines of a meeting in Washington with his American counterpart Marco Rubio.
According to the people informed about the conversations, the deal is expected to be large and save India politically influential agricultural marketsIncluding wheat and dairy products, from US tariffs, although they found that the conversations were still in progress.
A high -ranking Indian government official who did not want to be named said that there was “a lot of sensitivity” towards the agricultural markets.
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India has also agreed to import more natural gas from the United States to reduce its trade surplus, which was USD 41.2 billion for the 2024-2025 financial year, according to the people near the Indian government.
The two sides agreed on tariff reductions on one or both sides on thousands of objects.
The countries had committed themselves to $ 500 billion in Washington until 2030 during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington. Trump promised a “very large” trade agreement on Thursday that would “open India”. The following day he said that his government “tried to fall a complete barrier, which is unthinkable”.
Agriculture and dairy products remain sensitive.
India has managed to protect its milk sector from foreign competition in other trade talks, including Negotiations with the EU. According to the Indian government, the sector employs more than 80 million people, many of whom are small farmers.
In India there are concerns that foreign dairy products can come from cows that have been based on feed with cattle products, which rejected them for pious Hindus.
Another person with direct knowledge of the talks said that India had agreed to import US agricultural goods such as nuts and fruits despite the pressure of the US industry -lobbys for market access.
On Monday, Karoline Leavitt, press spokeswoman for the White House, said the US officials “have” traded trade agreements. “You will soon hear from the president and his team, his trading team, when it comes to India,” she said.
The government of Modi has accepted an energetic trade agenda this year and concluded a long -awaited agreement with Great Britain In May and announcement of plans to reach a pact with the EU by the end of 2025.
Neu -Delhi and Washington have made closer defense, technology and diplomatic relationships in a common front against China in recent years, and Trump has India urged to buy more US weapons to facilitate his trade deficit.
However, the government of Modi openly rejected the last month offered to convey About the controversial area of Kashmir.
