India, US make progress in trade talks, agree to sustain momentum

India and the US made positive progress during threeday trade talks in Washington this week with both sides agreeing to remain engaged to sustain the momentum going forward the government said on FridayAbout a dozen officers from India were in Washington during April 2022 to hold discussions with the US authorities on finalising the details of the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement BTAThe talks deliberated on issues including market access nontariff measures technical barriers to trade customs and trade facilitation investment promotion economic security alignment and digital trade the commerce ministry said in a statement The meetings were conducted in a constructive and positive spirit with meaningful and forwardlooking discussions enabling progress on key matters Both sides agreed to remain engaged to maintain this momentum as they move forward it saidAs the tariff landscape has changed in the US both sides are relooking at the framework of the agreement the text of which was released on February 7 US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has said India is a tough nut to crack 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 per cent tariff on all countries from February 24 for 150 daysAccording to that framework the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18 per cent from 50 per cent It had removed the 25 per cent tariffs on Indian goods for buying Russian oil and was to cut the remaining 25 per cent to 18 per cent under the pactBut on February 20 the US Supreme Court ruled against Trumps 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 24Under 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 productsIndia 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 The meeting was also important as when India finalised the deal it enjoyed a comparative advantage over its competitor countries Now with all US trading partners facing a uniform 10 per cent tariff the pact requires recalibrationSo the agreement will have to be recalibrated and redrafted a government source had said As the circumstances have changed every country is engaging with the US to see what is going to be the nature of their trade agreements with AmericaFurther the US Trade Representative USTR in March had launched two unilateral investigations against a number or countries including India 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 to terminate the probes as the initiation notice has failed to provide cogent rationale to substantiate the claimsChina has overtaken the US to emerge as Indias largest trading partner in 202526 The US was Indias largest trading partner for four consecutive years till 202425 The countrys outbound shipments to the US grew marginally 092 per cent to USD 873 billion during the last fiscal year while imports increased 1595 per cent to USD 529 billion The trade surplus declined to USD 344 billion in 202526 from USD 4089 billion in 202425This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever