US negotiators in Delhi next
week, kindle hopes of deal before December-end

Sources did not prefer to describe the US officials’ visit as a formal round of negotiations. They said differences are expected to be resolved at a political level. India had last month sent across its final proposal to the US for the agreement.

A government official told The Indian Express that the Indian team has not had technical negotiations with the US team during the last one month and that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) wing of the commerce ministry has begun working on the deal with Canada.

In the recent months, India has increased oil imports from the US. This has helped the bilateral trade gap between US and India to reach $1.5 billion from nearly $4 billion in March. Trade gap was among the concerns raised by the US before negotiations began.

Commerce Secretary Agrawal had said last week that India is expecting to finalise an agreement with the US by the end of this year. “It is only a matter of time before this decision is taken… It’s a call that will have to be taken at multiple levels,” said Agrawal. He said there isn’t much to negotiate and that “a political call needs to be taken”.

US President Donald Trump had on November 11 said the US will bring down tariffs on India, and that Washington and New Delhi are close to signing a trade deal. India is currently facing the highest tariffs of 50 per cent on any country globally, primarily due to additional duties on the purchase of Russian oil.

“Right now, the tariffs are very high on India because of the Russian oil, and they have stopped doing the Russian oil… It’s being reduced very substantially. We will bring the tariffs down at some point,” Trump said during a White House press briefing.

During the swearing-in ceremony of Sergio Gor, US Ambassador to India and Special Envoy to South and Central Asia, Trump had said: “I’m trusting Sergio to help strengthen one of our country’s most important international relationships, and that’s the strategic partnership with the Republic of India. It’s a big deal.”

“India is home to one of the world’s oldest civilisations, the largest country in the world, actually, and it’s got over 1.5 billion people. We have a fantastic relationship with Prime Minister Modi, and Sergio is only enhancing that because he’s already become friendly with the Prime Minister. It’s a very important relationship, but it’s also the fastest-growing middle class, and an important economic and strategic security partner in the Indo-Pacific region,” Trump had said.