The U.S. is reportedly engaged in trade negotiations with a number of countries seeking to eliminate or mitigate the U.S.’ “reciprocal” tariffs, with India possibly being the furthest along.
Earlier this month President Trump said that since the reciprocal tariffs were announced more than 75 foreign trading partners have approached the U.S. “to address the lack of trade reciprocity in our economic relationships and our resulting national and economic security concerns.” In response, the U.S. suspended those 11-50 percent tariffs through July 9 but in the meantime is subjecting imports from all countries but China to an additional 10 percent tariff.
According to press reports, the U.S. in recent weeks has been in negotiations with a number of trading partners, including India, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Administration officials have offered few details on the topics under negotiation or what final agreements might look like.
Perhaps the best indication came this week from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which highlighted progress in talks on a bilateral trade agreement with India, which the two sides agreed to launch in February. Specifically, USTR said, officials have finalized the terms of reference to “lay down a roadmap for the negotiations.” Earlier this year the White House said it wanted to negotiate the first tranche of an agreement with India by fall.
According to USTR, U.S. goals in these talks include “increasing market access, reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers, and negotiating a robust set of additional commitments to ensure long-term benefits.” A USTR fact sheet cites particular concerns with the U.S.’ goods trade deficit with India ($45.7 billion in 2024, up 5.1 percent from 2023), India’s average applied tariff of 17 percent (39 percent for agricultural products), and “technical barriers to trade, regulatory barriers, and restrictions on access to the market in the services, industrial, and agricultural sectors.”
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