“India – America’s talk is good, Vance and Modi make progress”: U.S. progress on trade negotiations | Indian news
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that trade talks with India were “working well” and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. Vice President JD Vance made “good progress” when India was in India.
“U.S. Vice President JD Vance was in India last week. He and PM Modi have made great progress, so I can see some announcements from India,” Bessent said in a news brief.
#watch |Washington, D.C. | U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “…U.S. Vice President JD Vance was in India last week. He and Prime Minister Modi have made great progress, so I can see some announcements from India…”
(Source: White House/YouTube) pic.twitter.com/qrgbe9a8o5– ani (@ani) April 29, 2025
Asked if it is possible to reach a tariff agreement soon, Bessent replied that the United States and India are very close to it and that the negotiations are “moving well”. He said it is easier to negotiate with India than many other countries.
“We are very close in India and it’s easier to negotiate with India than many other countries because of their very high tariffs … So it’s much easier to face direct tariffs because of these unfair trade agreements we’ve experienced over decades of decades of unfair trade deals, but non-statistical trade barriers can be more secretive and harder to detect.”
“So it’s easier for countries like India to issue and have tariffs ready to negotiate with them. So, I think the negotiations in India are going well,” Bessent continued.
#watch |Washington, D.C. | U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: “We are very close in India and it’s easier to negotiate with India than many other countries because they have very high tariffs … So it’s much easier to face direct tariffs when we go… pic.twitter.com/waknh9ybb4– ani (@ani) April 29, 2025
India – United States Bilateral Trade Agreement
India said on Tuesday that the meeting on bilateral trade agreement (BTA) negotiations with the United States is making “positive progress”.
Earlier, Prime Minister Modi visited the United States in February this year and held a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Now, as part of the ongoing BTA discussions, the representatives of the Indian Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative met in Washington, D.C. from April 23 to 25. This was a bilateral discussion in New Delhi in March.
The Department of Industry and Commerce said in a statement that at the Washington, D.C. meeting, the team had fruitful discussions on various topics, including tariffs and non-tariff matters.
“The panel discussed the pathways to the first pathway to the mutually beneficial multi-bilateral trade agreements by fall 2025, including through the opportunity to win early on. Although the engagement at the productive expert level is conducted in a virtual format, this statement is introduced from the final person.”
These discussions are part of a bilateral effort in line with the leadership’s February 2025 statement to improve and expand India-US economic ties and supply chain integration through BTA.
(with ANI input)
