India, US hold ministerial talks on first trade pact phase

Senior trade officials from India and the United States are scheduled to hold two days of high-level talks beginning on Tuesday, June 23, in New Delhi to finalize the first phase of a proposed bilateral trade agreement. The discussions will be led by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

The meetings follow chief negotiator-level talks held in the Indian capital from June 1 to 4, which covered trade in goods, non-tariff measures, customs facilitation, and economic security alignment. The current ministerial talks are aimed at giving final touches to the framework for an initial agreement, which both sides hope to execute by the middle of July.

A key driver of the timeline is an impending shift in U.S. tariff policy. A temporary 10% tariff imposed on all U.S. trading partners on February 24 is set to expire on July 24. After that date, standard Most Favored Nation tariffs will resume. The U.S. is also conducting two Section 301 investigations, which could lead to new tariffs. One probe, launched in March, examines alleged excess capacity and failures to eradicate forced labor in global supply chains. On June 2, the U.S....