Centre puts focus on bilateral trade talks, not reciprocal tariffs by U.S.

MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal
| Photo Credit: PTI

Indian officials are focussed on the progress in the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) talks with the United States, said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Friday (March 7, 2025), sidestepping questions on whether the recent flurry of remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump on “reciprocal tariffs” to be imposed from April 2 were a setback to ties. 

On Friday, days after his address to the U.S. Joint Session of Congress, Mr. Trump repeated his announcement that India would be included in the list of countries to face higher tariffs from the U.S. in retaliation for its taxes on American goods.

Asked about this, the MEA pointed to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s visit to Washington this week and his meetings with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and other officials, but didn’t detail any outcomes. “Commerce and Industries Minister was in the U.S. and met his counterparts. The two governments are in the process of advancing discussions on a multi-sector bilateral trade agreement,” said Mr. Jaiswal, referring to the BTA agreed to between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Trump in Washington on February 13.

Tariff waivers

According to the joint statement issued then, the two sides will work on presenting the “first tranche” of the agreement, including tariff waivers and other measures, by fall or September 2025. However, he declined to comment on whether Mr. Goyal had received any assurances that the April 2 tariffs announced by Mr. Trump would be put off while BTA negotiations continued.

“Our objective through the BTA is to strengthen and deepen the India-U.S. two-way trade across the goods and services sector, increase market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration between the two countries,” Mr. Jaiswal added.

On Friday, Mr. Trump took yet another swipe at India for high tariffs. “The big one will be on April 2, when reciprocal tariffs start,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, as he signed executive orders. “So if India or China, or any of the countries that really… India is a very high tariff nation,” he said, without completing the sentence. 

Mr. Trump said the U.S. had been “ripped off by every country in the world… they charge us 150-200% [and] we charge them nothing. So 1741365047 whatever they charge us, we’re going to charge them, and there’ll be no getting out of it.”

The U.S. Trade Representative has put India on a “Priority Watch List” for a broad number of trade, tariff and intellectual copyright issues. According to estimates, India’s average tariff rates for most imported U.S. goods is about 7.7%, while the U.S. charges an average of 2.8% on Indian goods.

Asked about Mr. Trump’s promise to extradite 26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana to India, officials said they had to wait until the U.S. completed all its appeals processes. On Friday, a judge at the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency plea by Rana to stay his extradition order, citing fears he would be “tortured” in India.

“We are working closely with the U.S. government to complete the necessary formalities to allow for his extradition to India,” Mr. Jaiswal said, when asked about Mr. Rana’s appeal.