By Madhusudan Sahoo
Copyright deccanchronicle
New Delhi: India on Tuesday said the discussions with visiting US chief negotiator Brendan Lynch on the proposed bilateral trade agreement were “positive and forward-looking”. After the day-long meeting in the national capital, India is hopeful that the Delhi talks will pave the way for the sixth round of trade talks in Washington.After talks with US officials, the commerce ministry said that the efforts will be intensified to achieve an early conclusion of a mutually beneficial India-US trade deal. In a statement after, the ministry said the discussions were positive and forward-looking and covered various aspects of the trade deal.”It was decided to intensify efforts to achieve an early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement,” the ministry said after the meeting.The American side also described the talks between India and the US on that bilateral trade agreement, the first since US President Donald Trump imposed 50 per cent tariffs on New Delhi, as “positive”.” Lynch had a positive meeting in Delhi with his counterpart ministry of commerce and industry special secretary Rajesh Agrawal on September 16 to discuss next steps in bilateral trade negotiations,” the US embassy spokesperson here said after the meeting. In line with the commerce ministry’s statement, Mr Lynch, who arrived in India on Monday night, also said after the meeting that the discussions were “positive”.During the negotiations, both the New Delhi and Washington officials discussed the bilateral trade agreement between the two nations. The talks were originally scheduled to take place between August 25-29 but were postponed after the US imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods following five earlier rounds of talks.The India team led by Agrawal and the US team led by Lynch held a closed-door meeting that lasted over seven hours. According to a source, “The meeting doesn’t mark the start of the next round of negotiations, describing it as a ‘discussion’ about ‘trying to see’ how an agreement can be reached positively on the tariff issue.”Negotiations on a trade deal had stalled after Trump imposed a hefty 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, partly as a penalty for Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil and weapons. India defended its decision, citing domestic energy needs and called the tariffs ‘unfair’. Notwithstanding, the top official said that India and the US have been engaged in discussions through virtual mode on a weekly basis. The high-stake trade deal meeting between these two negotiators took place within days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi warmly reacting to the US President’s positive assessment of trade ties between the two countries.Reacting to the development, CEO of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Ajay Sahai said that this delegation visit marked a precursor to the sixth round of talks, as both sides aim to move closer to an agreement ahead of the autumn 2025 deadline. “Exporters are hopeful that a bilateral trade deal will ease the burden of high tariffs, particularly the 25 per cent secondary tariff, which has posed significant challenges for Indian industry. With a duty differential of 30–35 per cent against competitors, the pressure on exporters is immense. A successful agreement could create a more conducive trade environment, offering much-needed relief to Indian exporters and strengthening bilateral economic ties,” said Sahai.
