Latest news with #India-UnitedStates
India.com
2 days ago
- Business
- India.com
India–US Trade Deal In Limbo As American Delegation Postpones Visit Amid Tariff Dispute: Report
New Delhi: The next round of negotiations for the proposed India-United States bilateral trade agreement (BTA) is likely to be delayed, with a visiting American delegation expected to defer its scheduled trip to New Delhi later this month, according to reports. Five rounds of talks have already taken place, with the sixth round originally planned from 25 to 29 August. However, according to media reports, an official source familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, 'This visit is likely to be rescheduled.' The apparent postponement comes amid escalating trade tensions between the two nations. Washington has recently imposed additional trade penalties on India, including a 25% duty on Indian goods that came into effect on 7 August. A further 25% tariff, announced as a response to India's continued crude oil and defence equipment purchases from Russia, is scheduled to be implemented from 27 August. Combined, these duties will raise tariffs on Indian exports to the US to a substantial 50%. In parallel, the US has also been pressuring India to open up politically sensitive sectors, particularly agriculture and dairy, demands that India has firmly rejected, citing the impact on small farmers and cattle rearers. Despite the recent friction, bilateral trade between India and the US has continued to show growth. According to data from India's commerce ministry, exports to the United States rose by 21.64% to USD 33.53 billion during April-July 2025, while imports from the US increased by 12.33% to USD 17.41 billion. The United States was India's largest trading partner in that period, with total bilateral trade amounting to USD 12.56 billion. New Delhi and Washington have expressed their intent to conclude the first phase of the BTA by autumn 2025, with an ambitious goal to more than double the current USD 191 billion trade volume to USD 500 billion by 2030. In response to US President Donald Trump's announcement of the additional 25% tariff on Indian exports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his Independence Day address to champion local production and reaffirm support for farmers and traditional livelihoods. 'Modi is standing like a wall against any harmful policy related to the farmers, fishermen, and cattle-rearers of India. We will never accept any compromise regarding our farmers, their livestock rearers, and fishermen,' the Prime Minister declared. Meanwhile, hopes of a shift in US tariff policy were sparked by high-level diplomatic developments. A key discussion between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin took place in Alaska on Saturday (IST), focusing on the ongoing Ukraine conflict. Improved US–Russia relations could potentially influence the severity or implementation of the secondary sanctions impacting India. Commenting after the summit, Trump, who had recently taken a tough stance against Moscow, remarked, 'I might have to consider it (sanctions) in two or three weeks, but there's no immediate need. If I did secondary sanctions now, that would be devastating for them.'
Indian Express
06-08-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
India's diplomacy with EU, US: Pushback in recent years, challenges over the past decades
The strong Indian pushback to President Donald Trump's aggressive tirade is the newest twist in the testing times that the India-United States strategic partnership is passing through. While India's response on Monday was its first after Trump announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods, plus a 'penalty' for its defence and energy imports from Russia, New Delhi has a record of pushing back against the Americans and the Europeans whenever its vital national interests have been at stake. Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said that the targeting of India by the US and European Union (EU) was 'unjustified and unreasonable', and that India would take 'all necessary measures' to safeguard its 'national interests and economic security'. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has been vocal in articulating India's stand on the global stage over the past three years. Consider: 🔴 In March 2022, speaking in the presence of then British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Jaishankar said that the talk of sanctions 'looks like a campaign', and that Europe was in fact, buying more oil from Russia than before the war in Ukraine. He pointed out that Europe had bought 15% more oil and gas from Russia in that month than in the previous month. 'If you look at the major buyers of oil and gas from Russia, I think you'll find most of them are in Europe. We ourselves get the bulk of our energy supplies from the Middle East, about 7.5-8 per cent of our oil from the US in the past, maybe less than per cent from Russia,' he said. 🔴 In April 2022, Jaishankar said in Washington DC that India bought less oil from Russia in a month than what Europe did in less than a day. 'If you are looking at energy purchases from Russia…your attention should be focused on Europe. We do buy some energy, which is necessary for our energy security. But I suspect looking at the figures, probably our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon,' he said. 🔴 In June 2022, speaking in Slovakia, Jaishankar said 'Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problems but the world's problems are not Europe's problems.' 🔴 In December 2022, Jaishankar said that New Delhi's purchases were a sixth of Europe's in the nine months since the war in Ukraine began. Speaking with then German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, he said, 'I understand that Europe has a point of view [on Ukraine] and Europe will make the choices it will make… But for Europe to make choices which prioritise its energy needs, and then ask India to do something else… 'Bear in mind, today, Europe is buying a lot [of crude] from the Middle East. The Middle East was traditionally a supplier for an economy like India. So it puts pressure on prices in the Middle East as well….' The Minister also pointed out that 'between February 24 and November 17, the European Union has imported more fossil fuel from Russia than the next 10 countries combined', and that 'oil import in the European Union is like six times what India has imported. …The European Union imported 50 billion euros worth [of gas].' 🔴 In May this year, the Minister observed that India was looking for partners, 'not preachers', and some of Europe is 'still struggling with that problem'. '…We look for partners, we don't look for preachers, particularly preachers who don't practise at home what they preach abroad…,' he said. While Jaishankar's words probably did not win him many friends in Europe, it was interpreted in India as an assertion of the country's 'strategic autonomy'. The relationship between India and the United States has faced several challenges over the decades. 🔴 The cyclical up-down in ties can be traced back more than half a century to the time when President Richard Nixon backed Pakistan during the 1971 war. The Seventh Fleet of the US Navy had moved into the Bay of Bengal, but India's friendship treaty with the Soviet Union deterred the Americans from entering the war directly. 🔴 The US and much of the West imposed sanctions on India after the nuclear tests in Pokhran in May 1998. India navigated its way out of the crisis by engaging with the US — talks between Jaswant Singh and then US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott ultimately led to the Indo-US nuclear deal a decade later in 2008. 🔴 In December 2013, Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade was detained and searched following allegations that she was not paying her help enough. The incident infuriated Indian diplomats, and the government took steps to make a point — removing security barricades around the US embassy in New Delhi, and scrutinising diplomatic privileges for American diplomats in India. Jaishankar was India's ambassador to the US at the time, and he played a key role in securing the release of Khobragade. But the ties with the US suffered a severe setback in the last six months of the UPA II government. It took a call between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2014 to bring ties back on track. As Trump ratchets up the rhetoric against India, New Delhi has held up the mirror to the double standards of his administration. Standing its ground against the President's bullying tactics and negotiating a trade deal with the US without ceding too much ground — this will be the test of India's resilience and strategic autonomy. Over the last quarter century, India and the US have built what President Obama described as the defining partnership of the 21st century. However, Trump's words and actions appear to bear out the truth of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's words — that to be an enemy of the US is dangerous, but to be a friend could be fatal. Dealing with Trump is arguably the biggest challenge for Indian diplomacy since 1998. Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism '2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury's special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban's capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More
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Business Standard
06-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
India-US BTA negotiations throw up tricky farm trade riddles to solve
Any decision on granting access to maize from the US may send the ruling JD(U)-BJP-led coalition back to the drawing board in poll-bound Bihar, writes Sanjeeb Mukherjee Sanjeeb Mukherjee Delhi Listen to This Article As the India-United States (US) Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations enter a crucial phase, the fate of three key agricultural commodities — maize, soybean, and soyoil — would be keenly watched. According to sources, the US boasts of huge surpluses of all three commodities and is pushing to ease entry barriers as part of the deal. If the US has its way, it could have repercussions for farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. But, the most immediate impact could be in Bihar, which goes to polls later this year.
Indian Express
04-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Vietnam trade pact has multiple takeaways, a clear China red-flag, and some pointers for the impending India-US deal
As the India-United States trade deal looks set to be announced over the next few days, a new deal inked by the Donald Trump administration with Vietnam offers fresh pointers for how Washington DC is approaching these trade agreements. One, the Vietnam deal shows that Trump is serious about tariffs, and that any belief that his administration plans to put off the tariff threats might be misplaced. The US Vietnam deal is clearly lopsided against the smaller, developing country, given that the US will impose a 20% tariff on Vietnamese goods entering the country while Vietnam has been arm twisted to drop all tariffs on American goods. For other countries too, including smaller nations, there is a strong likelihood of the deals being completely lopsided in favour of the US. Also, while the 20% rate is lower than the original proposal of 46% tariff on Vietnam, this rate is certainly higher than the 10% that was levied when the reciprocal tariffs were withdrawn. But there is a really big catch in the deal fineprint. Two, the catch in this deal is that any goods that are transshipped through Vietnam to the US will face a double tariff of 40%. That is a move clearly aimed at one country only — China. A lot of Chinese components make their way to Vietnam and are integrated into goods that the South-East Asian country eventually ships to the US, and the rest of the world. For instance, Chinese fabrics are used in Vietnamese clothing, given that the latter does not really have a cotton or man-made fibre production base. Chinese components go into electronics that are assembled in Vietnam and sent abroad. A higher tariff rate on goods that are made and assembled in Vietnam, but include foreign components, is clearly a move aimed at targeting Chinese producers and potentially make them less competitive while using production bases such as Vietnam. Now, that is a template, which could be followed for other ASEAN countries that are increasingly being regarded by Washington DC as transshipment hubs for China. The broader message from this is perhaps that the Trump administration could continue to act tough on China. In both respects, this could be good news for countries such as India if they are able to wrangle better terms in their deals with the US. Vietnam is a competitor for India, and benefits greatly from the China alliance. Third, the Vietnam deal shows that the pact seems to be centered on headline tariffs, even as they do not seem to really address the sectoral tariffs, which has been a key sticking point for countries such as Japan and South Korea, who were earlier seen as frontrunners to clinch early deals. Sectoral tariffs are an issue for India too. What the Vietnam deal likely shows is that there is still going to be a lot of fog even after a deal is clinched, especially with Asian countries that generally have multiple tariff lines and an array of tariffs. Fourth, the big takeaway from this deal is that the tariff onslaught initiated by the US is likely to continue focusing on China. With the July 9 deadline looming, which is just three-working days away, there are indications the about 20-odd countries that are in active talks with the Trump administration are eventually going to land up in three main buckets — the ones like possibly India, Taiwan and the European Union, which are likely to get a deal, just like the UK and Vietnam. Others might get more time to negotiate, maybe another three months or so. Then there's going to be the third grouping of countries that are just going to get handed their tariff rate without any negotiation whatsoever. Canada and Mexico are outside of these three categories, since the reciprocal tariffs were not slapped on them in the first place. Meanwhile, the last word on the validity of the reciprocal tariffs is likely to come from the judiciary, since the matter is being heard in American courts. There are some implicit assumptions that New Delhi seems to be working with in its approach to a deal with Washington DC. Despite President Trump's vacillations on trade policy, there is confidence here that the administration in Washington DC will maintain a steady differential in tariffs between China and countries such as India. Precisely for that gap to be maintained, a deal, officials said, needs to be clinched by India. The Vietnam deal is being seen as a vindication of this view. Also, while agriculture is a concern, as is the perceived arm twisting by the Trump administration on issues that are sensitive from an Indian point of view, there is a growing sense within an influential section of policymakers here that a deal for New Delhi is vital to keep the differential with China in place, especially since Beijing is also trying to strike a deal of its own. The question really is whether the Indian negotiators would have to settle for a limited early-harvest type of mini deal, or would they have to turn away from the negotiating table for now, let the July 9 deadline pass, and then rebuild efforts to bridge the gaps. A full-scale deal looks out of the question for now. Second, there is now a realisation that cutting tariffs across segments, especially intermediate goods, might be a net positive for India. Also, while the redlines for India would include sensitive sectors such as dairy products and cereals, where agri livelihoods are at stake, there is now greater receptiveness within India's policy circles to cut tariffs on some industrial goods, including automobiles, and some agri products of interest to the Amercians. Also, India has headroom to import more from the US, especially in three sectors — crude, defence equipment and nuclear, to manage Trump's constant references to the trade gap. Third, there is a growing view that the baseline tariffs are here to stay. So, effectively, what India would be negotiating for is a rate between 10% and 26 %. Prior to Trump's taking over in January, the effective duty on India was just 4%, and there were virtually no non-tariff barriers. That number is now a thing of the past. What is more consequential is the effective duty on Chinese products on a landed basis across US ports in commodity categories where Indian producers are reasonably competitive. The net tariff differential with India, and how that curve continues to move, is of particular interest here, given the firm belief in policy circles here that Washington DC would ensure a reasonable tariff differential between China and India. This is, in turn, expected to tide over some of India's structural downsides — infrastructural bottlenecks, logistics woes, high interest cost, the cost of doing business, corruption, etc. Anil Sasi is National Business Editor with the Indian Express and writes on business and finance issues. He has worked with The Hindu Business Line and Business Standard and is an alumnus of Delhi University. ... Read More
Hans India
03-07-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Cloud of uncertainty over Indo-US BTA seems to be lifting
After weeks of uncertainty and doubts over the US-India trade deal, it seems like it may finally be signed shortly. It may be recalled that the 90-day pause for the tariffs that US President Donald Trump imposed nears its end. He announced the pause on April 9. Washington imposed a 26 per cent tariff rate on Indian made goods. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is quoted as saying, 'We are in the middle—more than the middle—of a trade negotiation. I hope to bring it to a conclusion, but I can't guarantee it as there is another party involved.' He hinted that this could be done 'over the next few days.' Incidentally, the US has corroborated this. Saying that Trump shares a 'very good relationship' with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed this much during a press briefing: 'Yes, the President said that last week [that the US and India are very close to a trade deal], and it remains true. I just spoke to our Secretary of Commerce about it. He was in the Oval Office with the President. They are finalising these agreements, and you'll hear from the President and his trade team very soon when it comes to India.' Hopefully, the optimism expressed by Delhi and Washington materialises. For, quite apart from the knotty bilateral issues, there is the matter of Trump taking credit for stopping the hostilities between India and Pakistan in May. The Indian government didn't like that; this also apparently resulted in the hardened stance by our negotiators. Besides, many Sangh Parivar-affiliated bodies like the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) were opposed to certain aspects of the India-United States bilateral trade agreement (BTA). These aspects are related to genetically modified (GM) crops, dairy products, relaxed regulations on medical devices, and data localisation. It looks like the government, while addressing the genuine concerns of the BKS-SJM types, has ignored their ideologically motivated demands. This is quite appropriate for policy formulation. The proposed US-India BTA holds significant potential to transform the economic and strategic landscape between the two nations. Beyond the immediate goal of boosting bilateral trade volumes, the BTA can catalyse deepening economic integration and fostering long-term cooperation in key sectors. Increased market access and reduced trade barriers under the agreement would likely encourage higher US investments in India, particularly in areas like manufacturing, infrastructure, energy and services. Furthermore, the BTA could facilitate the transfer of advanced technologies, especially in critical domains like defence, information technology, renewable energy, and pharmaceuticals. This technology sharing would not only strengthen India's domestic capabilities but also enhance its global competitiveness. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in both countries could particularly benefit from easier market entry and reduced regulatory hurdles, thereby promoting inclusive economic growth. On a strategic level, the BTA can consolidate the growing US-India partnership, which is increasingly seen as vital for maintaining balance and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. Moreover, enhanced economic ties will complement the existing defence and security cooperation, reinforcing the shared commitment to a free, open, and rules-based international order. Ultimately, the BTA has the potential to evolve from a mere trade pact into a cornerstone of a robust, multifaceted US-India alliance that spans commerce, technology, investment, and geopolitics.
