US Treasury Secretary expects India to strike first trade deal

New York: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expects India to strike the first trade deal with Washington because the issues are simpler, making an agreement “much easier.”

He said on Wednesday that trade talks were “very close” to reaching a deal.

India has “fewer non-tariff trade barriers, obviously, no currency manipulation, very, very little government subsidies, so that reaching a deal with the Indians is much easier,” he told a group of journalists at a restricted meeting in Washington on the sidelines of the Spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The trade issues with India were mostly about high tariffs, he said, according to reports by participants in the meeting.

US Vice President J.D. Vance, who is in India and held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on trade issues this week, had earlier indicated that substantial progress had been made.

Speaking in Jaipur on Tuesday, Vance said, “We’re especially excited to formally announce that America and India have officially finalised the terms of reference for the trade negotiations.”

“This is a vital step toward realising President (Donald) Trump and Prime Minister Modi’s vision because it sets a roadmap toward a final deal between our nations. I believe there is much America and India can accomplish together.”

The two leaders said they had created a roadmap for the trade talks to proceed and enable India to escape the 26 per cent tariff rate that Trump has said would take effect in July under his reciprocal tariff regime if there was no deal.

The US Vice President’s office said the talks were “an opportunity to negotiate a new and modern trade agreement focused on promoting job creation and citizen well-being in both countries.”

India has taken steps to cut tariffs of Harley-Davidson motorbikes and bourbon whiskey, which Trump has often spoke of, as well as other items.

New Delhi has also said that it would increase energy and defence purchases from the US.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has also spoken of the importance of a trade deal with the US, pointing out that New Delhi was among the first to initiate trade negotiations with Washington.

“India’s biggest and top-most trading partner is the United States of America, and that importance is not lost in today’s government in India,” she said on Monday at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, a conservative think tank.

At a meeting with the Indian diaspora, she said that she expected the first part of the trade deal to be completed by autumn.

The US is “our largest trading partner with whom we need to have an agreement,” she said.

The bilateral trade between the two countries was $129 billion last year, with a trade surplus of $45.7 billion in India’s favour.

IANS