New Delhi, 1 July (IANS). India and the US are growing rapidly towards finalizing an interim trade agreement this week. According to a report, the agreement can help avoid tariff growth on Indian exports proposed by US President Donald Trump.
On behalf of India, a conversation team led by Special Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal is engaged in a high -level dialogue in Washington to finalize this bilateral trade agreement as soon as possible.
According to the report, Foreign Minister S.K. Jaishankar can hold bilateral discussions with his American counterpart Marco Rubio during a meeting in Washington on Tuesday or Wednesday.
This interim agreement is considered the first step towards a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA). The negotiaters of the two countries want to finalize it before the time limit of July 9. This is the same time limit, which President Trump had fixed as 90 days of deferment before imposing new tariffs on Indian products.
However, negotiations on comprehensive trade agreement are likely to continue till September-October.
The US wants a wide market access to India for its agriculture and dairy products, while the issue for India is related to the livelihood of small farmers, so it remains a sensitive area.
India may allow some agricultural products such as almond imports, which are already coming to the country. In return, India can demand better access to the US market in areas such as marine products (shrimp, fish), spices, coffee and rubber, where Indian exporters are pioneers in global competition, but face American tariff barriers.
India has already increased the purchase of oil and gas from the US to bring balance to the business surplus. At the same time, India has proposed a reduction in its import duty from 13 percent to 4 percent on an average in lieu of exemption in American tariffs. The proposal is similar to the recent FTA with Britain.
India wants better access to the US market for industrial products such as Steel, Aluminum, Auto Parts and Medicines. Recently, the US had increased the security fee to 50 percent on these products, which has negatively affected Indian exports. India has raised the issue in the WTO, but efforts are also on to resolve it through bilateral agreement.
In 2024, trade between Indo-US reached $ 129 billion, with India’s trade surplus at $ 45.7 billion. In February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump started ‘Mission 500’, which aims to reach bilateral trade by 2030 to $ 500 billion.
-IANS
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