India team heads to Washington for key talks on bilateral trade deal
About a dozen officers from India will reach Washington on April 20 for three-day talks with the US authorities on the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA). As the tariff landscape has changed in the US, both sides may like to re-examine the framework of the agreement, the text of which was released on February 7.
Following the decision of the US Supreme Court against the sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on a number of countries, the Trump administration imposed a 10 percent tariff on all countries from February 24 for 150 days. “The meeting will happen from April 20-22 in Washington DC. India’s chief negotiator, Darpan Jain (additional secretary in the Department of Commerce), is leading the team. Officers from the customs and the external affairs ministry are also part of the Indian team,” said an Indian official from the Commerce Ministry.
Further, the two unilateral investigations launched by the US Trade Representative (USTR) may also figure in the three-day deliberations. India has strongly rejected allegations made by the US Trade Representative in those two investigations under its Section 301 of trade law and has requested that the probes be terminated as the initiation notice has failed to provide a cogent rationale to substantiate the claims.
According to that framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18 percent, from 50 percent. It had removed the 25 percent tariffs on Indian goods for buying Russian oil and was to cut the remaining 25 percent to 18 percent under the pact. But on February 20, the US Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which were imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). After that, the President announced the imposition of 10 per cent tariffs on all countries for 150 days, starting February 24. In light of these changes, a meeting between the chief negotiators of India and the US scheduled for February was postponed. Now, they are meeting in Washington from April 20, 2026.
Under the agreed framework, India proposed to eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains (DDGs), red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products. India had also expressed its intentions to purchase USD 500 billion of US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products, and coking coal over the next five years.
Further, when India finalised the deal, it enjoyed a comparative advantage over its competitor countries. Now, with all US trading partners facing a uniform 10 percent tariff, the pact requires recalibration. “So the agreement will have to be recalibrated, redrafted,” said an official from India side, adding, “that amount of change will take place from their side”.
“In our case, since the agreement has not been signed, we have the option where we can right now change whatever needs to be changed,” said the officials. As the circumstances have changed, every country is engaging with the US to see the nature of its trade agreements with America.
China has overtaken the US to emerge as India’s largest trading partner in 2025-26. The US was India’s largest trading partner for four consecutive years till 2024-25. The country’s outbound shipments to the US grew marginally 0.92 percent to USD 87.3 billion during the last fiscal year, while imports increased 15.95 percent to USD 52.9 billion. The trade surplus declined to USD 34.4 billion in 2025-26 from USD 40.89 billion in 2024-25.
For all the latest updates, download PGurus App.
- India, US chief negotiators to begin three-day trade pact talks in Washington from Apr 20 - April 19, 2026
- CBI arrests DGCA official & Reliance top executive in drone import bribery case - April 19, 2026
- Air India expects to complete the retrofit of 7 more Boeing 787-8 planes this year - April 19, 2026
