An Indian trade delegation led by Chief Negotiator Darpan Jain is in the United States from April 20-22 for the first in-person meeting of the negotiating teams after a gap of about 3-4 months.
Stating that the negotiating teams have been engaging virtually in the meantime, on 15th April, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal had said that both sides “are looking at finalising the legal agreement” as a “logical follow-up of the joint statement released on 7th February”.
Indicating that there is a “need for further discussions and follow-up engagement” to take things forward, he had noted that the US has initiated investigations involving several countries, on which India has maintained no wrongdoing on both “forced labour” as well as “excess capacity.”
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The Secretary had highlighted that both the “sides will sit together and discuss how these issues need to be structured and addressed”, adding that “India and the US will work together to finalise timelines and next steps as part of the ongoing engagement.”
Along with the Chief Negotiator, the Deputy Chief Negotiator and track leads are also in the US to discuss issues apart from the interim agreement.
India and the US had announced a trade deal on 2nd February 2026, and a Joint Statement for the same was released on 7th February 2026. On 7th February 2026, the 25% additional ad-valorem tariffs imposed by the US on certain Indian exports, citing India’s imports of Russian oil, were removed. Pursuant to the US Supreme Court judgement dated 20th February 2026, invalidating reciprocal tariffs, the reciprocal tariffs are no longer in force.
The US Government has issued Executive Orders imposing 10% tariffs pursuant to Section 122 of the Trade Act, 1974 on certain products from all countries.
Meanwhile, two investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 have been initiated by the US: on excess capacity (against 16 economies, including India), and on Forced Labour (against 60 economies, including India), for which India has submitted its response to the request for consultations with the USTR.
Pointing to the developments that have transpired after the release of the Joint statement on 7th February, the Commerce Ministry had noted that the circumstances have changed as the IEEPA tariffs talked about in the agreement don’t exist anymore, adding that the team is going with an open mind to the US to discuss the structure of the Agreement sitting across the table.
Noting that every country is engaging with the US to see what the nature of their agreements will be, the Commerce Ministry pointed out that India’s trade surplus reduced with the US in FY 2025-26 compared to FY 2024-25, with a rise in energy imports from the US.
At several instances in the past, the American leadership has highlighted the existence of a large trade surplus for India in its bilateral trade with the US. The Commerce Ministry further noted that Russian and Iranian oil sanctions are not a subject matter of trade discussions with the US.
On 2nd April, government sources had indicated that India will talk about signing the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the United States once it gets preferential access, stating that the issue of preferential access will have to be sorted out by the US, with all countries facing 10% tariffs as of now.
Indicating that India is sitting on a sweet spot, having got a better deal than its competitors in South-East Asia and neighbouring countries, sources added that India’s approach is to get preferential market access into the US market. Both countries are looking to deepen their multidimensional relationship across sectors.
On 16th March, government sources had told CNBC-TV18 that when the India-US deal was earlier indicated to be signed in March, the Supreme Court judgement on IEEPA tariffs hadn’t yet come.
Stating that the previously levied tariffs don’t exist now, sources had indicated that 10% tariffs under BOP are in place for 5 months now under Article 122, hence any deal that India signs has to be against a tariff structure or the comparative advantage that India gets in the US market.
Stating that the US is trying to recreate a tariff architecture globally, sources had indicated that both sides are negotiating to iron out the final details, and the actual signing will be done when the new tariff architecture is in place globally.
Sources had explained that each country is doing a deal as part of a package where one is at comparative advantage or disadvantage vis-à-vis partner competitiveness, hence India had also decided to do a deal at a comparative advantage with many other competitive countries.
