U.S.–India trade talks

U.S. and Indian negotiators are set to resume trade talks in Washington on April 20, with tariffs still at the center of the dispute. (thehindubusinessline.com) The round is scheduled for April 20-22 in Washington, and India’s delegation is being led by Darpan Jain, an additional secretary in the Department of Commerce. India’s Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said last week that the visit would restart negotiations on the proposed deal. (thehindubusinessline.com) The Office of the United States Trade Representative said this month that India’s average applied tariff is 17%, compared with 3.3% in the United States, and called India’s tariffs among the highest of the world’s largest economies. U.S. officials said total goods trade with India was an estimated $129.2 billion in 2024. (ustr.gov) The current talks sit inside a broader Bilateral Trade Agreement process launched by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 13, 2025. In that joint statement, both governments said they wanted to lift bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. (whitehouse.gov) A follow-up round in New Delhi ran from March 26 to 29, 2025, between India’s Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. India’s government said those talks covered tariff and non-tariff matters and sector-specific market access. (pib.gov.in) The two sides also announced an interim trade framework on February 7, 2026, before returning to the larger pact. The White House said the framework would lower the U.S. reciprocal tariff on India from 25% to 18% and that India would eliminate or reduce tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods and a wide range of agricultural products. (whitehouse.gov) Indian press reports said New Delhi has offered tariff cuts on U.S. industrial goods and products including tree nuts, fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits. Those reports also said an earlier chief negotiators’ meeting planned for February was pushed back after changes in U.S. tariff policy. (thehindubusinessline.com) The backdrop has shifted again this month because Washington widened its tariff push beyond country-to-country trade fights. On April 2, the White House published action on pharmaceutical imports after a Section 232 review, and a separate fact sheet said patented pharmaceutical products and ingredients would face a 100% tariff on a delayed timetable. (whitehouse.gov, whitehouse.gov) That matters for India because pharmaceuticals are one of its biggest export sectors to the United States, even as the trade talks themselves are supposed to reduce barriers rather than add them. The next three days in Washington will show whether the interim framework can be turned into a fuller market-access deal. (whitehouse.gov, thehindubusinessline.com)