India, US trade: Early mutual wins, in-person sectoral talks to begin May-end

New Delhi: India and the US are looking at “early mutual wins” before finalising the first phase of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) and will begin in-person sectoral engagements from end May, the government said Tuesday

The chief negotiators of the two sides concluded three-day talks in Washington last week wherein they had “fruitful discussions” on wide ranging subjects covering tariff and non-tariff matters.

“The team discussed the pathway for concluding the first tranche of the mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement by Fall of 2025,” the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.


As part of the ongoing discussions on the India-US BTA, representatives of India’s Department of Commerce met those of the Office of the US Trade Representative in Washington DC on April 23-25. This follows earlier bilateral discussions held in March, 2025 in New Delhi.

“While productive sectoral expert level engagements have taken place through the virtual format, in-person sectoral engagements are planned from end May,” the ministry said.

The productive discussions are part of bilateral efforts in line with Leaders’ Statement of February 2025 to enhance and expand India-US economic ties and supply chain integration through the BTA as part of which they aim to more than double the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.

The two have finalised the terms of reference laying the framework for formal negotiations on the proposed pact, the first such framework finalised by the Donald Trump administration 2.0 for a trade deal.

Goals for the US include increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, and negotiating a robust set of additional commitments to ensure long-term benefits.

The US remained India’s largest trading partner for the fourth straight year, with total bilateral trade at $131.84 billion in FY25. Exports to the US increased 11.6% in FY25 to $86.51 billion while imports rose 7.4% to $45.33 billion.

Washington is looking at duty concessions on certain industrial goods, automobiles, wine, petrochemicals, dairy and farm produce such as apples, tree nuts and alfalfa hay. India could seek tariff cuts on labour-intensive sectors such as apparel, textiles, gems and jewellery, leather, plastics, chemicals, oil seeds, shrimp and horticultural products.

Among other issues, Washington’s interests include data localisation, evergreening of patents, government procurement and India’s quality control orders, whereas New Delhi’s focus areas are the long-pending totalisation pact and easier work visas.