‘Historic’ trade deal will open Indian markets to US goods: White House | Economy & Policy News
The White House said that in the coming weeks, the United States and India will work to finalize an interim agreement on trade with the aim of signing a mutually beneficial Bilateral Trade Agreement.
It was stated that the two countries will also continue negotiations to address remaining issues, including services and investment, labor and public procurement.
Days after India and the US announced the framework for an Interim Agreement on mutual and mutually beneficial trade in a joint statement, the White House ‘US and India Announce Historic Trade Agreement (Interim Agreement)’. published an information note on the subject.
The fact sheet highlights key terms of the agreement, including that India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial products and a wide range of US food and agricultural products.
This includes dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum, tree nuts, and fresh and processed fruits. certain pulses, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products, and India has committed to purchasing more American products and more than US$500 billion in US energy, information and communications technology, agriculture, coal, and other products.
The fact sheet on the “Path Forward to Prosperity” stated that US President Donald Trump continues to advance the interests of the American people, increase market access for American exporters, and reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to protect our economic and national security.
“India has maintained some of the highest tariffs of all major world economies against the United States, with tariffs averaging 37 percent for agricultural products and over 100 percent for certain automobiles. India also has a history of imposing highly protectionist non-tariff barriers that prohibit and ban many U.S. exports to India,” the fact sheet said.
“In the coming weeks, the United States and India will immediately implement this framework and work to finalize the Interim Agreement to finalize a mutually beneficial BTA that will benefit American workers and businesses,” the statement said.
The announcement provides a “concrete path forward” for India that underscores the President’s commitment to achieving balanced, reciprocal trade with a major trading partner.
He also added that in line with the roadmap laid out in the BTA’s terms of reference, the US and India “will continue negotiations to address remaining tariff barriers, additional non-tariff barriers, technical barriers to trade, customs and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, trade solutions, services and investment, intellectual property, labor, environment, government procurement, and trade-distorting or unfair practices of state-owned enterprises.”
It was stated that India will address non-tariff barriers affecting bilateral trade in priority areas.
The United States and India will negotiate rules of origin that will ensure that agreed benefits will flow predominantly to the United States and India.
India will abolish digital services taxes and commit to negotiating a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules that address discriminatory or burdensome practices and other barriers to digital trade, including rules prohibiting the imposition of tariffs on electronic transmissions.
The United States and India committed to cooperate on inbound and outbound investment reviews and export controls, as well as strengthening economic security alignment to increase supply chain resilience and innovation through complementary actions on third-party non-market policies.
The report stated that last Friday, Trump announced the trade agreement with India, which will open the country’s market of more than 1.4 billion people to American products.
The joint statement follows a meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, in which “the leaders reached a framework for an Interim Agreement on bilateral trade and reaffirmed their commitment to expanding US-India Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations.”
The report stated that Trump agreed to lift the 25% additional customs duty on imports from India in “recognition of India’s commitment to stop purchasing Russian oil.” Accordingly, the President signed an Executive Order last Friday eliminating the additional 25% tariff.
“Given India’s willingness to align with the US to confront systemic imbalances in bilateral trade relations and common national security challenges, the US will reduce the Reciprocal Tariff on India from 25% to 18%.
