Negotiators meet in Delhi; India, US to intensify efforts for an early trade deal

India and the United States on Tuesday decided to ramp up efforts to achieve an early conclusion of “a mutually beneficial” trade agreement after negotiators restarted face-to-face bilateral meetings amid growing signs that ties frayed by US President Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs over purchases of Russian oil were on the mend.

- Rajeev Jayaswal

The trade talks restarted on Tuesday after a hiatus of about two months as a team from the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR’s) office led by chief negotiator Brendan Lynch arrived in New Delhi late on Monday. The US officials met the Indian team led by chief negotiator and special secretary-commerce, Rajesh Agrawal, on Tuesday morning and discussed issues related to overall trade between the two countries and the India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) till evening.

Both sides described the talks as positive in nature.