India and the US have begun bilateral trade negotiations that will continue until Saturday in Delhi.
A US delegation, led by Assistant Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, arrived in the city on Tuesday for the talks.
“This visit reflects the United States’ continued commitment to advancing a productive and balanced trade relationship with India,” a US Embassy statement said.
The negotiations are happening ahead of President Donald Trump’s 2 April deadline to impose “reciprocal” or tit-for-tat tariffs on countries around the world, including India.
India’s junior commerce minister Jitin Prasada told parliament on Tuesday that the two countries were planning to negotiate a “multi-sector bilateral trade agreement” that focused on increasing market access and “reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers.”
The countries have been engaged in hectic negotiations since Trump came into office.
Trade Minister Piyush Goyal made an unscheduled visit to the US in March for talks following a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington in February.
The US was until recently India’s biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to $190bn.
Trump and Modi had set a target to more than double it to $500bn (£400bn). The two sides also committed to negotiating the first phase of a trade agreement by autumn 2025.
The Trump administration has repeatedly accused India of being a “tariff king” and a “big abuser” of trade ties in the past.
India has recently lowered tariffs on Bourbon whiskey, motorcycles and some other US products, but the balance of trade is still stacked heavily in its favour, with Delhi enjoying a $45bn trade surplus.
India’s average tariffs of around 12% are also significantly higher than the US’s 2%.
Officials have not spoken publicly about the contours of the trade talks, but Reuters has reported that India could be considering slashing tariffs on more than half of US imports worth $23bn in the first phase of a trade deal to avoid Trump’s reciprocal action.
Trump had previously said he wanted to charge countries tit-for-tat tariffs whereby the US would impose exactly the same charges that other countries imposed on it.
But on Monday, he suggested the White House might be “nicer than that”.
“We may take less than what they’re charging, because they’ve charged us so much, I don’t think they could take it,” he said, while also acknowledging that some countries might be spared from the measures.
