US Team To Land Today, Stalled Trade Talks Likely To Resume: Sources
Talks over an India-United States bilateral trade agreement - stalled over access to India's price-sensitive agriculture and dairy markets - will resume tomorrow, sources told NDTV Monday afternoon.
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New Delhi:
Bilateral trade discussions between India and the United States will resume Tuesday, sources informed NDTV on Monday afternoon. The talks, which had stalled over access to India's agriculture and dairy markets, will see American negotiator Brendan Lynch and his team arriving in Delhi tonight to meet with Indian counterparts.
A senior Commerce Ministry official described Tuesday's meeting as a 'precursor' to the sixth round of formal negotiations. The previously scheduled August talks were indefinitely postponed following tensions arising from US President Donald Trump's implementation of 50 percent tariffs on Indian imports.
Lynch, the US chief trade envoy, will negotiate with Rajesh Agrawal, India's Special Secretary in the Department of Commerce and chief negotiator.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal recently expressed optimism, indicating that initial agreements should be concluded by November. Last week, he told reporters that discussions ongoing since March have progressed "in a very good environment" with both sides satisfied with the developments.
President Trump also confirmed the resumption of negotiations, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his "very good friend" and stating that both nations "are continuing negotiations to address trade barriers... (and) there will be no difficulty in coming to a successful conclusion".
While Modi responded that he "deeply appreciates and fully reciprocates" Trump's positive assessment of bilateral relations, observers noted Modi's careful avoidance of referring to Trump as his 'friend'.
The trade talks, initiated in March, followed Trump's characterization of India as a "very big tariff abuser" and his imposition of 50 percent duties on Indian exports, including a 25 percent 'penalty' for purchasing Russian oil that allegedly supports the Ukraine conflict.
India has firmly rejected this position, describing the tariffs as "unreasonable, unfair, and unjust" while pointing out that Western countries, including the US, continue Russian oil purchases.
Negotiations were temporarily sidelined as tensions over the tariffs escalated. These duties could impact up to $48 billion of India's exports to America, according to government sources.
Just before the scheduled talks, US Commerce Minister Howard Lutnick maintained pressure, warning that India might lose access to American markets if it continues refusing to purchase US-grown corn. "India brags they have 1.4 billion people. Why won't 1.4 billion people buy one bushel of US corn?" he complained to Axios, adding, "They sell everything to us, and they won't buy our corn."
Regarding the tariffs, India has stated they won't significantly impact its economy, as efforts are underway to diversify export markets by strengthening ties with the UK, European countries, Japan, and West Asian nations.
On the trade agreement front, India maintains it won't compromise its agricultural markets that support millions of farmers, livestock holders, and fishermen operating at subsistence levels. The country has rejected proposals to reduce tariffs on American agricultural products including corn, soybeans, apples, almonds, and ethanol, believing such concessions would harm domestic farmers.
India considers this stance necessary to protect agriculture-based MSMEs involved in various farming activities, livestock production, food processing, and agricultural services.
Prime Minister Modi emphasized this position in his Independence Day address, declaring, "Modi is standing like a wall against any harmful policy related to the farmers, fishermen and cattle herders... India will never accept any compromise."
A senior US official acknowledged in August that resolving differences would not happen overnight, noting, "Our challenges with India... they've always been a pretty closed market... (and) there are a host of other kind of geopolitical issues."
Historically, India has never offered duty concessions to trading partners, including Australia and Switzerland, with whom it has existing trade agreements.
WIth input from agencies
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