Terms of reference finalised in India-US bilateral trade agreement: Sources

Official sources claim that the terms of reference finalised between India and the United States as part of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) include about nineteen chapters on goods, services, and customs.

According to reports by agencies quoting Indian officials, the country’s delegation is set to visit Washington, D.C, next week to go over the proposed India-US BTA and iron out any issues before both democracies jump into official negotiations.

The BTA is expected to lift the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, from the current $191 billion.

Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal, who is set to assume the post of the Commerce Secretary this October, is said to be leading the first in-person talks regarding the BTA as India’s chief negotiator.

These negotiatory meetings are scheduled to begin with the US from April 23, 2025, and expected to span over three days. A few weeks ago, a high-level US delegation visited India regarding the BTA. Among them was Brendan Lynch, the Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia.

The 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump is expected to give the officials of both sides enough breathing space to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

Both India and the US have estimated that the first phase of the BTA would be finalised by October.

On Friday, a joint statement from the US and Italian governments termed the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) as one of the greatest economic integration and connectivity projects of this century, connecting partners and stimulating economic development and integration between India and America in the future. This happened at the heels of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni meeting US President Donald Trump for the first time officially at Washington, D.C.

Italy and the US are set to work together to develop the IMEC from India, to the GCC to Israel, to Italy, and then onward to the United States.

The Italy-US statement has many similarities with the United States-India Joint Leaders’s Statement, issued after PM Narendra Modi visited Washington in February, where both leaders talked about enhancing diplomatic ties and increasing collaboration with the GCC.

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