Ministerial level talks in America from today, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will talk to Lutnick-Grier

The ministerial-level negotiations will start from Saturday in Washington to drive forward the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) between India and the US. Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal will be in discussions with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jameson Greer during his four-day trip. A high-level official stated on Tuesday that during these days political guidance will be provided to the principal negotiators and progress in the previous two months will be reviewed. From 19 to 22 May there will be in-depth discussions between the two countries' chief negotiators. Both the nations are mulling an interim trade deal before finalizing the first part of the trade deal by September-October of the current year. Market access, rules of origin and non-tariff barriers will be the core issues of the negotiations.

India's proposal to impose retaliatory duty on some US products in response to tariffs imposed on US steel and aluminium will also be a topic of discussion. The US has suspended 26 per cent additional duty on India till July 9, but the 10 per cent basic duty continues. Under this agreement, India is demanding duty concessions from the US in labour-intensive sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather products, chemicals, lobsters and bananas. At the same time, the US wants exemptions in agricultural products like automobiles (especially electric vehicles), wine, dairy and apples.

India's chief negotiator for the BTA, Rajesh Agarwal and US Assistant Trade Representative Brendan Lynch held three-day talks in Washington last month. In March, Goyal also held bilateral meetings with Greer and Lutnick. The two countries have already started talks at the regional level. Both countries are trying to speed up the talks by taking advantage of the 90-day tariff pause.