Top trade officials from India and the US have discussed opportunities for “early mutual wins” in the proposed multi-sector bilateral trade agreement. The two sides worked out details of concluding the first tranche of the pact by the fall of 2025 in Washington DC last week, per the Commerce Department. “The early or interim deal is likely to include mostly goods. Efforts would be to finalise it within the 90-day pause period on US reciprocal tariffs. Items that will get included in the early deal for tariff cuts will depend on how the negotiations unfold. India is hopeful that it can avoid the reciprocal tariffs completely,” a source tracking the matter told businessline. On April 2, US President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on most countries that have trade surpluses with the US, including India which got slapped with 26 per cent levies. But he paused them for 90 days (except a baseline tariff of 10 per cent that continues to be levied) to give time for trade deals. Trade talks “As part of ongoing discussions on the India-US BTA, representatives of India’s Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) met in Washington DC from April 23-25, 2025. The team had fruitful discussions on wide-ranging subjects covering tariff and non-tariff matters,” according to an official release. While the US is looking at steep tariff cuts for products such as automobiles, motorbikes, whisky and agriculture to reduce its trade deficit with India, discussions on non-tariff barriers could also be tricky as it would include areas such as import barriers, licenses, standards and intellectual property (IP). Special 301 Report On Tuesday, the USTR’s Special 301 Report once again placed India in its ‘priority watch’ list for intellectual property (IP) issues, stating that it remains one of the world’s most challenging major economies with respect to IP protection and enforcement. While productive sectoral expert-level engagements have taken place virtually, in-person engagements are planned from May end, the statement noted. Published on April 29, 2025