US delegation to visit India from June 1-4 for trade talks

PTI

New Delhi

A US team is visiting India from June 1-4 to discuss finalisation of the details for the interim trade pact and take forward negotiations under the broader bilateral trade agreement (BTA), the Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday. The US team will be led by its chief negotiator Brendan Lynch. 

The two sides propose to finalise the details of the interim agreement and take forward the negotiations under the broader BTA on multiple areas such as market access, non-tariff measures, customs and trade facilitation, investment promotion, and economic security alignment, the ministry said. 

On Feb 7, India and the US issued a joint statement finalising the framework of the first phase of the BTA or an interim trade agreement. Now, both sides will have to finalise the legal text for that deal. The framework reaffirmed the commitment of both countries to the broader India-US BTA negotiations. 

According to that framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18% from 50%. It had removed the 25% tariffs on Indian goods for buying Russian oil and was to cut the remaining 25% to 18% under the pact. 

But, on Feb 20 this year, the US Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump's sweeping reciprocal tariffs, which were imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).