Later in the day, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal said India and the US were close to finalising the first tranche of the bilateral trade deal and that negotiations were moving in the right direction. “We are in a very good zone. We anticipate signing the deal at the earliest,” he told reporters at the monthly trade briefing.
Agarwal, however, underlined that the deal would be finalised only after the tariff structure was settled and there was clarity on the outcome of the Section 301 investigations. “The tariff structure needs to be finalised. There is parallel work being done in the US,” he said, adding that the outcome of the Section 301 investigations also needed to be considered.
“A trade deal has a very important component—not only market access, but also preferential market access relative to competitors,” Agarwal noted.
On excess capacity, India has joined a US-led initiative to address structural overcapacity in manufacturing. Agarwal said the issue had been discussed at the G20, adding that excess capacity created by non-market practices could distort markets and deter global trade.
India-Canada trade deal
Meanwhile, India is also hopeful of successfully concluding its trade negotiations with Canada by year-end. “We are making good progress. The next round of negotiations is scheduled to be held in Delhi in early November,” officials said. The previous round of talks was held in Ottawa from October 5 to October 9.
The negotiations cover 16 policy areas, including market access for goods and services, rules of origin and origin procedures, trade remedies, customs and trade facilitation, and dispute settlement.
The Commerce Department has listed the trade deals with the US and Canada among nine ongoing FTA negotiations.