India is hopeful that the negotiations with the US on the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) will come back on track and both sides will sign the first tranche by November as was originally envisaged.
“We had a little bit of geopolitical issues overtaking trade negotiations with the US. I do hope things will get back on track soon and we will conclude BTA by fall or November as was discussed by our two leaders,” commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said at a Global Investor Conference Tuesday.
Earlier in the day the minister had said at a CII event that dialogue with the US on BTA continues despite US President Donald Trump posted on “Truth Social” that trade relationship with India has been a “totally one-sided disaster” as its high tariffs have prevented American businesses from exporting to India.
Later in an interview to Fox News US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “at the end of the day India is the most populous democracy in the world their values are more closer to ours than to China’s, than to Russia’s”.
“I think at the end of the day, two great countries will get this solved. But the Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine,” he said. Both Trump and Bessent spoke after the conclusion of the annual summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) that brought together top leadership of India, Russia and China on a single platform.
Tariff tensions stall formal negotiations
The formal negotiations in BTA that was agreed between the two sides in February have stalled after the US increased duties on Indian imports to 50% effective August 27, The US team that had to come to New Delhi for the sixth round of talks on the agreement postponed it. Officials here say that the additional tariffs by the US on Indian imports need to be addressed for the resumption of negotiations.
India advances other trade agreements
Goyal said India has already completed trade agreements with Mauritius, Australia’s first tranche, the four nation EFTA bloc, UK, UAE. “Lots have happened. Lots more to go,” he added.
Next week negotiators from India and the European Union (EU) will sit down in New Delhi for the 13th round of negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal is currently in Brussels holding meetings with his counterparts in the EU.
The 13th round of talks will be held from September 8 to September 12. On September 12th the EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic will be in India to give further direction to the talks. “We are making very active and significant progress,” Goyal said.
On the FTA with Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Goyal said, “the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the agreement has been finalised and we will set up next steps and dates to start the negotiations.”
The FTAs are one of the policy pillars being pursued by the government to help in diversification of India’s exports at a time when it faces tariff headwinds in its biggest market.