NEW DELHI: An Indian delegation will be in the US from April 20 to 22 to take forward the negotiations on the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Wednesday.
The Indian team will be led by chief negotiator Darpan Jain. This will be the first such in-person engagement between the two sides, after the US Supreme Court declared that Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs were illegal. The ruling had prompted both sides to recalibrate their positions ahead of the next round of talks.
“The negotiating teams will be meeting in person after a gap of about 3-4 months. They have been engaging virtually in the meantime. We are looking at finalising the legal agreement, which is a logical follow-up of the joint statement released on 7th February,” Agarwal said.
Meanwhile, India has submitted its rebuttal to the US Trade Representative (USTR) on April 15 regarding the Section 301 measures, a longstanding point of contention between the two countries. “The US has initiated investigations involving several countries. Both sides will sit together and discuss how these issues need to be structured and addressed,” Agrawal said.
The BTA was initially supposed to be signed by the mid-March. However, after court ruling, the US rolled back the additional 25% tariffs imposed earlier. It then imposed a 10% tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 on certain imports from all countries.
After the Supreme Court ruling, on March 11, the USTR launched a Section 301 trade investigation against policies and industrial practices of several economies, including India and China. is visiting the US, there will be discussions around Section 301 too.
Meanwhile, India’s exports in March posted the steepest fall in five months in March, declining by 7.44% to $38.92 billion, while imports fell by over 6% due to the West Asia crisis, official data released on Wednesday showed.