Expect India to strike first trade pact: US Treasury Secy

Trump said India may reduce its high tariffs as part of the bilateral deal

- ASIT RANJAN MISHRA

As in-person negotiations between India and the United States kicked off on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expected India to strike the first bilateral trade deal to avert President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs.

According to the New York Post, Bessent told a roundtable of about a dozen reporters on Wednesday that trade talks with India are "very close" to reaching a successful conclusion because the world's most populous nation doesn't have "so many high tariffs". "India also has fewer non-tariff trade barriers, obviously, no currency manipulation, very, very little government subsidies, so that reaching a deal with the Indians is much easier," Bessent said at a Washington DC event on the sidelines of the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings.