Indian Officials To Visit US Next Week To Finalise Legal Text for Interim Trade Agreement
Both sides are engaged in finalising that legal agreement, and virtual talks are going on for that.
New Delhi: Commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal on Monday said that a team of Indian officials will visit the US next week to finalise the legal text for an interim trade agreement, which is likely to be signed in March. However, the visit is likely to start on February 23.
The official’s statement came after India and the US released a joint statement earlier this month to announce that a framework for an interim trade agreement has been finalised. “The joint statement lays down the contours of the deal. Now, the contours of the deal have to be translated into a legal agreement, which will be signed between the two sides,” he told reporters here.
Both sides are engaged in finalising that legal agreement, and virtual talks are going on for that. “Next week, India’s chief negotiator Darpan Jain Jain, who is the joint secretary in the commerce ministry, will be leading a delegation to the US to finalise the legal (pact) to work towards the legal agreement. That work will carry on next week in Washington and, if need be, thereafter in July and March,” Agrawal said.
Under the interim trade pact between two large democracies, both sides would extend duty concessions to each other on a number of goods traded between them. The US has announced that it will reduce the reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. It has already eliminated the 25 per cent punitive tariffs on India for buying Russian crude oil.
The secretary further said that there is an effort to close and sign the deal in March, but he declined to put a deadline on it. “Because legal agreement finalisation also has certain intricacies, which both sides will have to resolve. “The US is working on reducing the reciprocal tariffs from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. I am told they are processing it. It should be done fast,” he said, adding that our expectation is that it should be done this week, but, in case it is not done, the team is there next week, and we can pursue and see why it is taking time.
Normally, he said, the agreement is that 18 per cent will be done in the interim pact, and the remaining tariff lines, wherever reciprocal tariffs are expected to go down to zero, will only be done after the legal agreement is signed. “And from our side also, any reduction in tariff, any market access, preferential market access will be extended only after the legal agreement is signed,” the secretary said.
