Indian team in Washington extends stay for trade talks: Official

The Indian team, headed by special secretary in the department of commerce Rajesh Agrawal, will remain in Washington till Monday (June 30, 2025) for negotiations on an interim trade agreement with the U.S., an official said.

The stay of the Indian officials has been extended for three days until June 30. Initially, the delegation was scheduled to stay for two days with the talks having commenced on June 26.

These talks are significant as both countries are engaged in negotiations for an interim trade deal and are trying to finalise the pact before July 9, the deadline for the expiry of the suspensions of reciprocal tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration on April 2.

On April 2, the U.S. imposed an additional 26% reciprocal tariff on Indian goods but suspended it for 90 days. However, the 10% baseline tariff imposed by America remains in place. India is seeking full exemption from the additional 26% tariff.

Agriculture and dairy sectors are difficult and challenging areas for India to give duty concessions to the US. India has not opened up dairy in any of its free trade pacts signed so far.

The U.S. wants duty concessions on certain industrial goods, automobiles — especially electric vehicles, wines, petrochemical products, dairy and agricultural items like apples, tree nuts and genetically modified crops.

India is seeking duty concessions for labour-intensive sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, grapes, and bananas in the proposed trade pact.

The two countries are also looking to conclude talks for the first tranche of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) by fall (September-October) this year. The pact is aimed at more than doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 from the current $191 billion.

Before the first tranche, they are trying for an interim trade pact.

The U.S. team was here from June 5 to June 11 for the talks. The negotiations will continue both virtually and physically in the days to come.

India's merchandise exports to the U.S. rose by 21.78% to $17.25 billion in April-May this fiscal, while imports rose by 25.8% to $8.87 billion.