Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is likely to be focused on persuading the US not to impose reciprocal tariffs on India at the end of the on-going 90-day tariff pause period by offering some immediate concessions to the country as he engages with his counterparts in Washington on the India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA). But there are apprehensions that the Trump administration may not be flexible on the 10 per cent baseline tariff already applied on India and it may be a stiff challenge for Goyal and team to gain a rollback, sources tracking the matter said. “Indian exporters have been hoping for an early rollback of the 10 per cent baseline tariff as it has made things very difficult. This is especially true for MSME units who hardly have any bargaining power with the buyers or deep pockets to absorb losses. The negotiators must keep this in focus,” a Delhi-based garments exporter told businessline. Goyal is in the midst of Ministerial-level talks with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on the BTA amidst expectations of announcement of a limited trade deal soon. The first tranche of the full-fledged multi-sectoral BTA, however, has a later deadline of September-October (Fall 2025). While Goyal’s talks are from May 17-20, the two negotiating teams will hold discussions on the pact from May 19-22. The red line While India is likely to draw the red line for dairy products and some agricultural items like food grains and refuse to cut tariffs, it will be under a lot of pressure to slash tariffs on items like automobiles, motorcycles, alcohol and a variety of agricultural products while removing restrictions on imports of some items like ethanol. “The Indian industry wants equivalent gains in return for tariff concessions that India agrees to extend to the US. Going by the US-UK trade deal, it seems that getting equivalent market access will be difficult for India at least in the interim deal. The UK was also not able to convince the US to rollback the baseline duties. This is worrying for India,” the source said. With the US agreeing to roll back the tariffs on steel and aluminium for the UK, albeit with clauses, there is hope for India that it may do the same for the country as part of the pact. Trump tariff Trump’s 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on various countries including India, announced on April 2, will lapse on July 8. India was slapped with a reciprocal tariff of 26 per cent, of which a 10 per cent baseline tariff was already levied in April this year. What is not clear yet is how much would the US want in order to drop the reciprocal tariffs – will it be enough to offer some tariff cuts, or would it also want some immediate commitments on non-tariff measures. “The India-UK FTA may have whetted US’ appetite, and it may look for similar concessions or more from India in as many areas or more. New Delhi needs to avoid giving too many concessions in the interim period. Most of its concessions should be given when the first tranche of the BTA gets finalised in September-October so that it also has enough time to extract concessions in return,” the source added. More Like This Published on May 18, 2025