News Brief
India-US Interim Trade Deal Likely To Be Finalised Within Two Days, Key Sectors Excluded: Report
Narendra Modi and Donald Trump (File Photo) (Representative Image)
An interim trade deal between India and the United States is expected to be finalised within the next 48 hours, with intense negotiations underway in Washington, the NDTV reported, citing sources.
The Indian delegation extended its stay last week to resolve remaining differences ahead of the 9 July deadline, when a pause on US tariffs announced in April is set to end.
The talks have seen disagreements over Washington's demand for greater market access to India’s agricultural and dairy sectors and genetically modified crops.
These remain sensitive issues for New Delhi due to concerns over food safety and rural livelihoods.
Both agriculture and dairy are likely to remain outside the scope of the proposed deal.
India is reportedly seeking significant tariff concessions on labour-intensive exports such as footwear, garments, and leather.
These sectors are vital for employment and export growth.
New Delhi is unwilling to agree to a deal that doesn’t address both sectoral access and reciprocal tariff relief.
Officials believe that without broader tariff cuts, doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 is unrealistic.
On Tuesday (2 July), US President Donald Trump said Tuesday, “I think we are going to have a deal with India... a deal where we are able to go in and compete... for much less tariffs.”
If the deal falls through, a 26 per cent tariff structure suspended earlier will automatically resume.
“The failure of these trade discussions would trigger the immediate reimplementation of the 26 per cent tariff structure,” a senior official was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
