Brendan Lynch, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, will arrive in India on Monday to further trade talks and finalise the India-US bilateral trade deal. The US trade team's visit comes amidst a stormy patch in Trump-Modi relations over the delay in finalising the trade deal.
According to reports, the trade team from the US will hold daylong discussions with Indian negotiators on Tuesday and push the trade deal to finality. So far, five rounds of negotiations have been held for the India-US bilateral trade agreement. The talks were impacted after US President Donald Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Indian imports for purchasing Russian crude oil and defence equipment. India described the US action as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable".
Confirming the visit of the US trade team, Rajesh Agarwal, India's chief negotiator and a special secretary in the commerce ministry, said, "We have indicated that in the past also the discussions are going on; the chief negotiator of the US is visiting India tonight and tomorrow will be holding talks to see what can be the picture."
Agarwal added, "It is not the sixth round of negotiations, but it is definitely discussions on the trade talks and trying to see how we can reach an agreement between India and the US."
The US trade team's visit comes days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reacted positively to US President Trump's comments on the trade relationship between the two nations. Trump once called India a "dead economy" and accused New Delhi of fuelling Russia's war against Ukraine by purchasing cheap crude oil from the country.
However, Trump's tone changed after bonhomie between Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's Summit recently in China.
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Lynch, responsible for the implementation of the US trade policies in South and Central Asian regions, including India, is known for managing negotiations in key sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, services, and intellectual property rights.
Lynch's visit comes at a time when India-US trade talks have hit a deadlock over the import of farm goods. Recently, the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ranted that India boasts of its huge population but is not ready to buy even a bushel of US corn.
India has maintained that the interests of farmers and fishermen will be protected. Agarwal said, "There have been discussions going on but we were not progressing much because the overall environment was not conducive. Now we see there is a window."
The sixth round of trade talks between India and the US was scheduled during the last week of August, however, it was called off after Trump announced a steep hike in tariffs on Indian goods.
