India and the US are likely to announce an interim trade agreement before July 8, the day Washington's 26% reciprocal tariffs are due to come into force, an official said Wednesday.New Delhi is seeking full exemption from the additional 26% reciprocal tariffs on domestic goods, the official said, adding India will protect its sensitive sectors through quotas or minimum import price. We are looking at concluding an interim deal before July 8, the official said. The pact will include goods, non-tariff barriers and some services such as digital, he said.The two sides are looking at early mutual wins before finalising the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) by fall this year, taking advantage of the 90-day tariff pause window.121323461 We are trying that the 26% additional duty and the 10% baseline tariff should not be there for India, the official said.New Delhi has in the past ringfenced dairy and agriculture goods in its trade agreements.Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal is in the US for discussions on the proposed deal. He met US trade representative Jamieson Greer and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick earlier this week and is expected to hold meetings with them again. The minister-level meetings were followed by talks between chief negotiators of the two sides, which will continue till May 22.On the likelihood of another round of talks, the official said the two sides are trying to finalise things as early as possible .Key IssuesNew Delhi is seeking tariff concessions for its labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and leather.At present, the Trump administration requires approval from the US Congress to bring tariffs below the most favoured nation (MFN) rates but it has the authority to remove the reciprocal tariffs.The US has suspended the additional 26% tariffs on India till July 9. However, the 10% baseline tariff imposed on the countries continues to remain in place. They can give a commitment that they can reduce the tariffs below MFN once they have that authority, the official added.Issues related to market access, rules of origin and non-tariff measures could be the key areas of discussions. Besides tariffs, the US also wants India to address issues around import barriers, standards including quality control orders and intellectual property. The two sides aim to more than double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.The US wants duty concessions in sectors such as industrial goods, automobiles including electric vehicles, wines, petrochemical products, dairy, agriculture items such as apples, tree nuts and genetically modified (GM) crops.