India, US Officials Discuss Bilateral Trade and WTO Agenda

New Delhi: The Department of Commerce on Wednesday said that Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal held a meeting with Deputy US Trade Representative Joseph Barloon, and discussed issues related to the ministerial conference of World Trade Organisation (WTO) and ways to further expand bilateral trade ties between the two nations.

In a social media post, the department under commerce ministry said that they had detailed discussions on the MC14 agenda and explored strategic ways to further deepen our economic cooperation and bilateral trade ties. The meeting was held in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon. Both are in the African nation for the 14th ministerial conference (MC14) of the WTO. The four-day meet will start on March 26.

The meeting is important as the two countries have finalised a framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement. It has not yet been signed. India and the US announced a trade deal on February 2. A joint statement for the same was released on February 7.

India remains engaged with the US for a mutually beneficial trade agreement. According to the framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18 per cent. However, the tariff architecture in the US has changed following its Supreme Court ruling against President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs. After that, the US President imposed 10 per cent tariffs on all countries for 150 days from February 24.