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A team of officers led by the US Assistant Trade Representative (USTR) Brendon Lynch will visit New Delhi next week for important dialogue on the Indo-US bilateral trade agreement.<\/p>\n
The aim of both sides is to finalize the first phase of the ‘mutually beneficial’ trade agreement by the end in 2025. The discussion between the two countries is scheduled to take place a week before the US has implemented an equal fee from April 2.<\/p>\n
India has shared a non-promoting or non-informal informal discussion letter with the US to give information about its views and proposals about dialogue. It is expected that the US will react to the discussion letter this week. Two people expert in the case told the business standard that the purpose of the discussion is to assess the situation.<\/p>\n
One of them said, ‘India (with the US) has shared an informal document or discussion letter and the American side can do the same. The purpose of sharing a discussion letter by India is to assess the situation. This may lead to initial talks on this free trade agreement. The negotiations for bilateral trade agreement will begin officially after the agreement is fixed.<\/p>\n
Which points India has included in the discussion letter is not known, but it is understood that India is ready to reduce fees in many product categories like textile and leather. India is under pressure to reduce the duty on cars and alcohol, where the import duty is more than 100 percent. The US is also bargaining to open the market and reduce the fee.<\/p>\n
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting with top officials of US administration including USTR Jamison Greer and Commerce Minister Howard Lityik in the US from 4 to 6 March. The USTR team is expected to come to India only a few weeks later. Earlier this week, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barathwal said that the two sides are discussing the official level to finalize the widespread outline of the agreement.<\/p>\n
In an interview to Breetbart News, US President Donald Trump said, “I think India will reduce the fees on American goods.” He said that their relationship with India is ‘very good’. But the only problem with India is that it is one of the highest charge countries in the world. He said, ‘I believe that he is probably going to reduce those fees significantly. But from April 2, we will charge the same fee from them as they charge from us.<\/p>\n
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First Published – March 20, 2025 | 10:39 pm IST<\/span><\/p>\n
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