Indian team to visit Washington next week for trade talks

An official delegation will visit Washington next week to hold trade talks with US authorities, an official source said on Wednesday.The bilateral meeting between the trade officials of the two countries holds immense importance as India and the US have finalised the framework for an interim trade agreement.The team will visit the US next week, the source said.The pact was initially slated for signing in March, but changes in the tariff landscape following a US Supreme Court ruling have altered the situation.

Official sources have earlier stated that the agreement will be signed once the new global tariff architecture of America is in place.India and the US, in February, announced finalisation of a framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement. According to that framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18 per cent.However, the tariff architecture in the US has changed following its Supreme Court ruling against President Donald Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs.

After that, the US president imposed 10 per cent tariffs on all countries for 150 days from February 24.In light of these changes, the meeting between the chief negotiators of India and the US was postponed last month. The two sides were scheduled to meet in February to finalise the legal text of the agreement.When India finalised the deal, it was at a comparative advantage compared to its competitor countries. Now all the US trading partners are facing the same 10 per cent tariffs.Next week’s meeting is also important as the USA is undertaking two investigations under Section 301.

On March 12, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) launched a Section 301 probe, covering 60 economies, including India and China.The investigations will determine whether acts, policies, and practices of each of these economies related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labour are unreasonable or discriminatory, and burden or restrict US commerce.On March 11, the USTR launched a Section 301 trade investigation, targeting policies and industrial practices of 16 economies, including India and China.