India, US holding very active and intense discussions on trade: S Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India and the US are holding ‘very active’ and ‘intense’ discussions on trade, as the world waits with anxiety over US President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariff that will kick in on April 2, 2025. He said there is a strong ‘business case’ for a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) between the two countries.
Jaishankar said ‘on trade, we had a very open discussion and it is the result of the decision by PM Modi and US President Trump to have a bilateral trade agreement by fall this year. I have every confidence that they (negotiators) will negotiate what is the best possible deal for us. While noting the concerns, I wouldn't prejudge the outcome. I would wait and see really what happens in terms of our ability to reach an understanding with the United States.’ On Trump's policies, he said ‘overall, our assessment was that we saw many changes which suited us or which in some way formed convergence on which we could build upon.’ He said the US president's tariff tussle has stoked fears of a global trade war with many countries already announcing counter-measures to deal with it.
The US was the largest trading partner of India with overall bilateral trade in goods and services amounting to $190 billion for calendar year 2023. In the financial year 2023-24, the US was the third largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India with inflows of $4.99 billion accounting for almost per cent of total FDI equity inflows.
