Another round of India-US trade talks will conclude in Washington on Wednesday, officials told HT, as negotiators on both sides seek greater clarity on the future direction of the trade relationship in the wake of legal turmoil that destabilized a framework agreement announced in February.
“The ongoing conversation between the two countries is in itself a good outcome,” said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We need more details on the US side’s thinking about what will happen going forward when it comes to tariffs.”
The Indian negotiating team led by Additional Secretary Darpan Jain met with US negotiators led by Assistant US Trade Representative Brendan Lynch to start the talks on Monday.
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The tour concludes with the United States on Wednesday.
The urgency increases as the deadline approaches. “The stakes are high in this latest round of negotiations in Washington, and time is running out to conclude the interim agreement before the Trump administration announces new Section 301 tariffs,” said Mark Linscott, a senior adviser at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum and a former US trade negotiator. “If the agreement is not locked in by then, we could see tariffs rise to more than 18%.”
The talks are taking place against a backdrop of great unrest. Under the Indo-US trade framework announced on February 7, Washington committed to reducing tariffs on Indian imports from a combined 50% — a 25% reciprocal tariff and a 25% punitive duty on India’s purchases of sanctioned Russian crude — to 18%, giving Indian goods a comparative advantage over rivals like China.
For its part, India pledged to reduce customs tariffs on a range of industrial and agricultural goods and expressed its intention to purchase US products worth $500 billion, which is expected to boost trade in the energy and technology sectors, among other sectors.
But before the deal could be finalized, the US Supreme Court on February 20 struck down the Trump administration’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs as exceeding its legal authority, invalidating the legal basis on which the proposed 18% rate was built.
Later, the administration invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a temporary uniform tariff of 15% on imports from all countries – a temporary period valid for 150 days and scheduled to expire in July.
In March, Washington announced Section 301 investigations into alleged unfair manufacturing practices — particularly structural industrial overcapacity — against India and 15 other major economies.
Unlike Section 122, Section 301 places neither maximum tariff levels nor time limit, although it does require a formal investigative process including public hearings.
They have previously been used extensively against China, as 25% tariffs on Chinese goods since Trump’s first term were backed by a Section 301 investigation and withstood court challenges.
Officials said an interim bilateral trade agreement would resolve India’s exposure to Section 301, but the window to do so before the new tariffs are announced is narrowing.
