'US trade talks on commas and full stops now': Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: India and US have finalised most elements of the legal text of the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement, with negotiations now focused on "commas and full stops", commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Monday, but the treaty, in the works for 15 months, will only be sealed after there is clarity on how the Trump administration deals with the tariff mechanism once the current 10% levy goes away next month.

While US is expected to rely on Section 301, under which India faces two probes, along with several other countries, govt wants to ensure that exports from the country retain tariff advantage compared with rival nations.

$140bn trade ties moves closer to new framework agreement
Separately, India has questioned the investigations under Section 301 with one related to structural overcapacity in sectors such as solar modules, processed food, steel and aluminium in 15 countries. The second one relates to failure to act against forced labour by several countries.

US trade representative Jamieson Greer is expected to visit India once there is clarity on the new mechanism as the earlier “reciprocal tariffs” imposed by Donald Trump, using emergency provision, were junked after the US Supreme Court termed it illegal. The idea seems to be to keep the text of the treaty ready and once the new tariffs are finalised, the rates will be worked out.

India and US had agreed to an interim framework in early Feb, but had to put it on hold in the wake of the court ruling. American trade negotiators are in the capital with three-day talks scheduled to start Tuesday.

“...mostly everything is finalised. As you know, US Ambassador Sergio (Gor) said that 99% of the things have been finalised. Discussions are going on about small issues, commas and full stops. While finalising, how will the legal changes that have taken place in the US be reflected in the final agreement, and what kind of changes will be made accordingly. After finalising that, I am fully confident that, with the US, we will conclude the first tranche of the BTA as soon as possible, sign it and start further discussions on how to have a more comprehensive BTA,” Goyal told reporters.

US is India’s largest export destination with goods worth $87 billion shipped last year, and second largest trading partner with two-way trade of $140 billion. India had trade surplus of over $33 billion.