First phase of India-US trade deal nearing closure: Official

The official added that the deal is expected to address the issue of 25% penalty on India, otherwise the agreement would have no meaning

- OUR CORRESPONDENT

The first phase of the proposed India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) is ‘nearing closure’ and would address the hefty 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Indian goods, in addition to resolving America’s market access issues, a government official said on Monday.

‘The US has imposed a 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs and another 25 per cent on Indian goods entering American markets for buying Russian crude oil.

“We are engaged with the US on the BTA. It has two parts. One part of negotiations will take time. The other part is a package which can address reciprocal tariffs. We are working on both aspects. ‘The package that can address reciprocal tariffs is more or less near closure and we should get it soon,” the official said.

‘The official added that the deal is expected to address the issue of 25 per cent penalty on India, otherwise the agreement would have no meaning.