Indian team heads back to US to ‘negotiate complete trade deal’ amid looming tariffs

NEW DELHI: Further talks on the India-US trade deal are lined up in the coming days with negotiators once again headed to Washington as the government seeks to finalise an agreement, without any deadline pressure. “We are not differentiating between an interim or the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement. We are negotiating a complete deal. Whatever will be finalised, we can package it as an interim deal, and for the rest, talks will continue,” said an official, days after President Donald Trump announced that US was “close to making a deal with India”.Earlier this year, Trump and PM Modi had set a deadline for finalising a trade deal by September-October but with reciprocal tariffs announced, an interim tranche or a mini deal entered the picture. While Trump has been sending letters to countries setting revised reciprocal tariffs effective Aug 1, India is so far not on the list.But month-end is seen as the latest deadline to offer concessions in areas of interest to the US. In India’s case, it is agriculture that is of prime interest, along with American whiskey and automobiles, but the government is reluctant to lower tariffs on farm goods. Besides, commerce minister Piyush Goyal has said that the government will not be bound by deadlines and will ensure that India’s interest remains paramount.

On Monday, Rajesh Agarwal, India’s chief negotiator for the US trade deal, said the government is trying to negotiate and finalise a trade agreement. Having implemented 14 free trade agreements with 26 countries, he said, “Now, we are integrating with major markets also… we just concluded an agreement with the UK, we are in an advanced stage of negotiations with the European Union, we are trying to negotiate and finalise a deal with the US…” “This will create huge opportunities for India also to become part of global value chains,” he said here at an event on export logistics. Agarwal also listed New Zealand, Chile and Peru among countries with which talks were under way. “Our tariffs will be bilaterally cut… People will be able to make long-term investment decisions based on this predictability of tariff and regulatory landscape… In this logistics will also be a major determinant,” he had said. Besides, he had underlined that the government was working towards lowering logistics costs.