India and US are actively engaged in focused discussions to facilitate greater market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and enhance supply chain resilience and integration as they aim to achieve an expeditious conclusion of the initial tranche of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), a senior official said here Friday.
As part of the ongoing negotiations for the BTA, a US delegation led by Assistant US Trade Representative (AUSTR) is in India from June 4 to 10.
The visit follows from the productive discussions held in May when the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal led a delegation to the US from May 17–22, 2025 and held meetings with his counterparts—the Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and USTR Jamieson Greer.
“To advance the proposed comprehensive and forward-looking Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), India and the United States are pursuing an integrated and strategic approach,” the official said.
“We are making very good progress. We are having extensive discussions and I am very confident that very good outcomes will come out of this,” Goyal had said yesterday.
Through the initial tranche of the BTA India is trying to avoid the full application of reciprocal tariffs that were announced by US on India on April 2. Additional tariffs of 26% on India have been announced but have been put on hold till July 9. Now Indian exports attract only 10% additional baseline tariffs. The reciprocal tariffs will be implemented after July 9 by US on all it’s trade partners with whom it fails to reach any trade agreement or understanding.
During the India-U.S. Leaders’ Summit on February 13 both nations reaffirmed their commitment to deepening trade ties with a new ambition—”Mission 500″—aiming to more than double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.
To realize this vision, the leaders announced plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral BTA by autumn of 2025.
