Hope to sign 1st phase of US trade pact by Oct: FM

SAN FRANCISCO: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India is "actively engaging" with the new US administration and hopes to conclude the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement "positively" by fall (Sept-Oct) this year.

"We are one of the countries, which is actively engaged with the new administration of the United States of America to see how best we can get a bilateral trade agreement done," she said during an interaction with the Indian diaspora here. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to launch talks for a bilateral trade deal, amid the lurking fear of reciprocal tariff being imposed by Washington.

"Equally, the priority that we gave to engage with the govt here is more than obviously seen with the Prime Minister himself visiting the United States in Feb. You had the commerce and trade minister come. I have come here because I also have the IMF and World Bank meeting. I am scheduled to meet the treasury secretary, my counterpart here. So, the keenness with which we are engaging with the US administration, even as I talk, I think the US vice-president is in India. He will be engaging with the Prime Minister hopefully this evening or tomorrow," she said.

The US and India have aimed for a bilateral trade agreement, which is a kind of free trade pact. The two have decided to conclude the proposed BTA in two tranches or phases. "So, the long and short of engaging with the US is not just reciprocal tariff-related matter but in the interest of keeping an agreement in mind and in the interest of one of the largest trading partners with whom we need to have agreement, we are working in order that by the fall this year we should have first phase of agreement signed."

US President announced reciprocal tariffs (or import duties) on a number of countries, including India and China, on April 2. However, on April 9, he announced a 90-day suspension of these tariffs until July 9 this year, except for those on China and Hong Kong, as about 75 countries approached America for trade deals. China is facing up to 245% duty on goods entering US. agencies


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