India, US may be able to complete first tranche of BTA by mid-July: Piyush Goyal | Today’s news
Visakhapatnam: India and the US are moving fast to resolve outstanding issues in bilateral trade agreement (BTA) talks and could be able to implement the first tranche of the pact around the middle of next month, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.
Speaking to reporters at a press briefing after an event at the National Seminar on Seafood Exports in Visakhapatnam, Goyal said the discussions between the two countries held from June 2 to 4 were productive and helped move the talks forward.
“We had great discussions on June 2-4. We had a full team of officials from various trade divisions from the US in Delhi. I also met them yesterday (Thursday),” Goyal said.
Read also | India and the US reaffirm commitment to a trade deal during negotiations
The minister said that both parties are making rapid progress in resolving outstanding issues.
“We’re moving quickly to close all the open ends and I think sometime in the middle of next month we should be able to do a very, very live first tranche,” he said.
Goyal said the proposed arrangement would only mark the first phase of a broader bilateral trade agreement between the two countries.
“It is only the first tranche of our bilateral trade agreement that will provide preferential access to India over our competitors,” he added.
The comments follow a visit by a US trade delegation to New Delhi from Tuesday to Thursday to negotiate a proposed trade pact. The aim of the visit was to advance the discussions on the bilateral agreement, which both countries are trying to conclude gradually.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office today, US President Donald Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a good friend and expressed confidence that the US and India will reach a trade deal, according to multiple media reports.
Responding to a question about the trade deal the two countries are negotiating, Trump said India has taken advantage of US policies for years and imposed heavy tariffs.
“They charged our companies huge amounts of tariffs and we didn’t charge them anything,” Trump said.
Read also | Mint Explainer | Why did the US propose new tariffs on India?
The talks come as Washington proposed new tariffs on India and 59 other trading partners, including the UK, European Union, China and Japan, over what it described as their failure to ban imports of goods made with forced labour.
Under the proposal, India and most of the other affected economies could face an additional 12.5% duty, while a smaller group of countries that adopted what the ÚSTR described as stronger measures against forced labor imports would face a 10% duty.
ÚSTR said that the actions, policies, and practices of these economies related to the “failure to impose and effectively enforce a ban on imports of goods produced by forced labor” could be actionable under Section 301(b) of the US Trade Act of 1974 if they burden or restrict US trade.
Read also | India and the US are nearing the first phase of a trade pact as talks enter the final phase
Section 301 authorizes the US government to investigate and respond to foreign trade practices deemed unfair or inconsistent with trade agreements. The proposed measure applies to a wide range of trading partners, including those that already have free trade agreements with the US, such as Canada, Mexico and Australia.
