US trade chief Jamieson Greer heads to India for key trade talks

US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer will travel to India this week for talks with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and other senior Indian officials as Washington and New Delhi seek to advance negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement that both sides say is nearing completionThe Office of the United States Trade Representative announced on Sunday that Greer will visit New Delhi before travelling onward to UzbekistanAccording to the statement Greer will meet Goyal and other senior Indian officials ldquoto discuss the historic United StatesndashIndia Joint Statement and the Interim Agreement as part of the broader USIndia Bilateral Trade Agreement negotiations launched by President Donald J Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13 2025rdquoA senior administration official had signalled the visit earlier this month while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in France At the time the official had said US and Indian negotiators had been engaged in ldquoquite intensiverdquo discussions and confirmed that he would be travelling to India to continue the talksThe trip also follows recent remarks by Donald Trump who said after meeting Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit that the two countries were ldquovery closerdquo to reaching a trade agreementThe US statement did not provide details of the agenda beyond discussions related to the joint statement the interim agreement and the broader bilateral trade negotiations It also did not indicate how long Greer will remain in IndiaFollowing his visit to New Delhi Greer will travel to Tashkent where he is scheduled to meet Shavkat Mirziyoyev Head of the Presidential Administration Saida Mirziyoyeva and Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid KhodjaevldquoAmbassador Greer will conduct each of these meetings with his counterparts to discuss achieving fair balanced and reciprocal trade with the United Statesrdquo the statement saidThe United States is one of Indiarsquos largest trading partners with bilateral trade in goods and services continuing to grow over the past decade Economic ties have expanded across sectors including technology manufacturing energy pharmaceuticals and critical supply chainsThe negotiations are part of a broader effort by Washington and New Delhi to build a comprehensive trade framework that supports deeper strategic cooperationGreer has previously described India as ldquoa tough nut to crackrdquo on some marketaccess issues particularly in sectors where India maintains significant protections At the same time he has pointed to the existence of a joint framework agreement that provides the basis for continued negotiations between the two countriesThe trade discussions are taking place alongside an expanding strategic partnership that spans defence emerging technologies critical minerals education and peopletopeople ties Both governments have repeatedly described the IndiaUS relationship as one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century with stronger economic integration viewed as a key component of that vision