India and the United States will resume trade negotiations on the first phase of their proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) today. The talks will be held from April 20 to 22 in Washington, DC. Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce, Darpan Jain, is leading the Indian delegation. Officers from the Customs and the External Affairs Ministry are also part of the Indian team.
The 3-day talks are aimed at recalibrating the framework amid shifting global tariff dynamics. The meeting will mark the first face-to-face engagement between the two sides in nearly four months, during which discussions continued virtually. The talks assume significance as both countries reassess the contours of the proposed pact following changes in the US tariff regime. After the US Supreme Court struck down sweeping tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Washington introduced a temporary 10 per cent tariff on imports from all countries for 150 days beginning February 24. 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. 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.
