India-US Trade Deal: Negotiations Underway for Framework

New Delhi, Mar 21 (PTI) With just 11 days left for US President Donald Trump's tit-for-tat tariff to kick in, India on Friday said its negotiations with Washington are underway to build a framework for a bilateral trade pact that would address issues relating to levies and market access.

India remains engaged with the US administration at "various levels" to arrive at a mutually-beneficial trade agreement, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.

Jaiswal, however, did not directly respond to queries on whether India is expecting some kind of a waiver from Trump's reciprocal tariff that is coming into effect on April 2.

The US president indicated on Wednesday that Washington will not spare India from the new tariff regime, saying he has a "very good" relationship with New Delhi and has a "problem" with its tariff structure.

"India and the US are in the process of taking bilateral trade negotiations forward," Jaiswal said.

"The two governments are actively working to build a framework for the BTA, which would aim to expand trade, enhance market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers and deepen supply-chain integration," he said.

"In this endeavour, our minister of commerce and industry visited the US from March 3 to 7 and held discussions with the US secretary of commerce and US trade representative," Jaiswal said.

The US president's tariff tussle has stoked fears of a global trade war, with many countries already announcing counter-measures to deal with it.

Following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump in Washington DC last month, the two sides announced that the first tranche of the BTA will be negotiated by the fall of 2025.

"The government of India remains engaged with the US administration at various levels to arrive at a mutually-beneficial, multi-sector bilateral trade agreement," Jaiswal said.

"Both sides are in conversation and hopefully, will come to some sort of understanding," he added.

When pressed further on whether India is expecting some concession from the reciprocal tariff, Jaiswal did not give any specific response.

"You will have to wait for the talks to come to a closure," he said.

In line with his "America First" policy, Trump earlier this month announced reciprocal tariffs on its partners and other nations that impose higher levies on imports from the United States.

India has reduced its average applied tariffs significantly for key developed countries like Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland and Norway under recently-concluded bilateral trade agreements.

Similar negotiations are currently underway with the European Union and the United Kingdom, among other partners.

The ongoing discussions with the US should be seen in this context, Indian government sources said a few weeks ago.