India-US trade deal: Talks to begin from THIS date, terms of reference include 19 chapters

India-US trade deal: Indian and US officials will hold three-day discussions starting April 23, 2025, in Washington on the proposed trade pact, which has terms of reference (ToRs) covering around 19 chapters, such as tariffs, non-tariff barriers, and customs facilitation, according to news agency PTI.

The Indian official team is visiting the US to give an impetus to negotiations in the 90-day tariff pause window and discuss these ToRs to iron out the differences on certain issues before launching talks for the bilateral trade agreement (BTA).

India's chief negotiator, Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal, will lead the team for the first in-person talks between the two countries. Agrawal was appointed as the next commerce secretary on April 18, 2025. He will assume office on October 1, 2025.

"Both sides will discuss the level of ambition. The ToRs will be developed and discussed. What will be the pathway for talks? The ToRs will include issues like tariffs, non-tariff barriers, rules of origin, goods, services, customs facilitation and regulatory issues," the official said, adding general contours of the pact will be discussed, besides scheduling, so things can be finalised in 90 days.

India-US trade deal talks from April 23

The three-day deliberations assume significance, as a senior government official had recently stated that an interim trade agreement between the two countries could be finalised in the 90-day tariff pause announced by the Trump administration if it is a "win-win" for both sides.

In international trade parlance, the level of ambition refers to the extent to which two countries are willing to commit to specific trade liberalisation measures. The visit follows senior official-level talks held between the two countries last month.

Brendan Lynch, South and Central Asia's Assistant US Trade Representative, was in India from March 25 to 29 for crucial trade discussions with Indian officials. The Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs on April 2 to address the gap and boost manufacturing, including 26 per cent on India. The tariffs were later suspended for 90 days until July 9.

The two sides are keen to utilise the 90-day tariff pause, announced by US President Donald Trump on April 9, to push the talks. On April 15, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal stated that India would try to close the negotiations as quickly as possible with the US.

India and the US have negotiated a bilateral trade agreement since March. Both sides have targeted completing the first phase of the pact by the fall (September-October) of this year, aiming to more than double bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030 from about USD 191 billion.

In a trade pact, two countries either significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. They also ease norms to promote trade in services and boost investments.

The US is considering duty concessions in certain industrial goods, automobiles (electric vehicles), wines, petrochemical products, dairy, and agri items such as apples, tree nuts, and alfalfa hay. India may consider duty cuts for labour-intensive sectors such as apparel, textiles, gems, jewellery, leather, plastics, chemicals, oil seeds, shrimp, and horticulture.

India-US trade relations

The US was India's largest trading partner from 2021-22 to 2024-25. In the last fiscal year, India's exports to the US rose by 11.6 per cent to USD 86.51 billion, as against USD 77.52 billion in 2023-24. Imports were up by 7.44 per cent in 2024-25 to USD 45.33 billion, as against USD 42.2 billion in 2023-24.

With America, India had a trade surplus (the difference between imports and exports) of USD 41.18 billion in goods in 2024-25. America accounted for nearly 19.78 of India's total exports and 6.29 per cent of the total imports.

In 2024, India's exports to the US included drug formulations and biologicals (USD 8.1 billion), telecom instruments (USD 6.5 billion), precious and semi-precious stones (USD 5.3 billion), petroleum products (USD 4.1 billion), gold and precious metal jewellery (USD 3.2 billion), ready-made cotton garments, including accessories (USD 2.8 billion), and iron and steel products (USD 2.7 billion).

India's imports included crude oil (USD 4.5 billion), petroleum products (USD 3.6 billion), coal, coke (USD 3.4 billion), cut and polished diamonds (USD 2.6 billion), electric machinery (USD 1.4 billion), aircraft, spacecraft and parts (USD 1.3 billion), and gold (USD 1.3 billion).