Trump Indicates Tariff Reductions May Lead to US-India Trade Agreement

Donald Trump on Tuesday (local time) said the upcoming US-India trade negotiations would be to target “far, far lower tariffs” and have “a structure in place” that will allow the two nations to compete fairly.

“This is going to be a very new type of opportunity—one where we can walk in and compete on a level playing field. Right now, India has not opened up its market, but I think they will...They have not done that, but we will see. If they do that, we will probably make a deal with substantially lower tariffs,” Donald Trump was quoted as saying.

India and the US have been negotiating over a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) before the crucial July 9 deadline of the 90-day pause on India-US tariffs escalations.

At the same time, India has hardened its stand on the agricultural sector as the high-stakes trade negotiations with the United States approached a make or break stage, government sources said on Monday.

The Indian team led by Chief Negotiator Rajesh Agrawal had extended its stay in Washington. Two days of Trump on US-India Trade Talks were scheduled on Thursday and Friday but the two countries have decided to extend the dialogue as both sides were trying to rush through an interim trade agreement before the crucial July 9 deadline, a day ahead of the World Trade Organization’s MC12 meeting, reported ANI.

The decision to extend the US-India trade talks came as both India and the US are staring at the possibility of the resumption of 26% reciprocal tariffs on trade following expiry of the three-month window period. As part of a tit-for-tat tariff war, these punitive tariffs were announced on each other’s imports during the Trump administration on April 2. The tariffs were put on hold for 90 days but will snap back into place if both countries fail to find a deal by July 9.