NEW DELHI: The US chief trade negotiator will arrive in New Delhi on Monday night to resume discussions with Indian officials on a long-pending trade deal, sources said.
Formal talks are scheduled to begin on Tuesday. The US delegate team will be in for a day for the discussions, confirmed a source from the Ministry of Commerce.
Brendan Lynch, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, will formally continue the talks with his Indian counterpart.
Talks were put on hold after Washington imposed higher tariffs on several Indian goods, including crude sourced from Russia, while raising duties on other items close to 50%. India had tagged the move as a unilateral decision. While the agenda of the meeting hasn't been revealed yet, this move makes it evident that there has been a thaw in India US relations.
The negotiations come against a political backdrop of both sides signalling interest in a reset.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently described US President Donald Trump as a “dear friend” in a social media post, after Trump echoed positive sentiment about India in his social media post.
The US remains India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral goods trade crossing $120 billion last year.
Progress in this round is expected to shape the contours of economic cooperation ahead of potential high-level meetings later this year. The visit by the US team was previously scheduled between August 25 and 29, but it was called off amid rising tensions over massive tariffs imposed by the US on Indian products as a “penalty” for the country's purchase of Russian oil, funding the Ukraine war.
Trump announced an additional 25% tariff on Indian products on August 6 and it became effective from August 27.