India-US trade talks from April 23; tariffs, customs amongst key agendas
PTC News Desk: India and the US are meeting next week to speed up negotiations on the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), in an effort to avert some of the pressure being imposed by the Trump administration on India to significantly reduce trade tariffs.
Commerce Ministry sources today said Indian and US officials would meet for three days starting April 23 and discuss broad contours of the BTA, focusing on 19-chapter terms of reference which had been finalised.
"The Indian team led by Additional Secretary (Commerce) Rajesh Agarwal will be in Washington DC next week for the three-day meeting with the US counterparts. The two sides will also aim to go beyond the agreed terms of reference and discuss American interests in agriculture, non-tariff barriers besides customs facilitation,” according to reports.
Agarwal, India’s lead trade negotiator with the United States, was appointed as Special Secretary in the Commerce Ministry through an order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is set to assume the role of Commerce Secretary following the retirement of the current secretary, Sunil Barthwal, on September 30.
The trade negotiation plan follows shortly after senior government officials recently expressed confidence in India’s strong stance amid the ongoing tariff dispute with the United States.
- With inputs from agencies
