India and US fine-tune trade pact after concluding most talks, says Piyush Goyal

The Hague: India and the US have concluded most of the discussions on a proposed bilateral trade pact and are now fine-tuning the agreement, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday at the India-Netherlands Business Forum.

Goyal's statement comes days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that "a small number of items are left to be wrapped up" in the agreement and expressed hope that it would be finalised "shortly".

"We have concluded most of the discussions and are fine-tuning the agreement," Goyal said.


Under the framework announced in February by the two countries for the first phase of their bilateral trade agreement (BTA), the US had agreed to remove the 25% penalty on Indian goods over New Delhi buying Russian oil and reduced the reciprocal tariff rate to 18%. However, on February 20, the US Supreme Court invalidated US reciprocal tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Washington went on to levy an additional 10% duty on Indian goods under a Section 301 probe on alleged forced labour concerns. The duty, which has also been imposed on 16 other countries, is lower than the 12.5% tariff the US had proposed in June under a broader Section 301 investigation.