Possibility of interim trade agreement between Indo-America this week: Report

New -delhi, July 1 (IANS). India and the US are growing rapidly to finalize an interim trade agreement this week. According to a report, the agreement could help avoid tariff growth on Indian exports proposed by US President Donald Trump. On behalf of India, a discussion team led by special secretary Rajesh Aggarwal is working on a high -level dialogue in Washington to finalize this bilateral trade agreement as soon as possible. According to the report, the Foreign Minister Sk Jaishankar can hold bilateral discussions with his American counterpart Marco Rubio at a Washington meeting on Tuesday or Wednesday. This interim agreement is considered the first step towards a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA). The negotiators of the two countries want to finalize it before the July 9 -year limit. This is the same time limit, which President Trump determined as 90 days of postponement before imposing new rates on Indian products. However, negotiations on comprehensive trade agreement are likely to continue until September-October. The US wants a wide market access to India for its agricultural and dairy products, while the problem for India is related to the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, so it remains a sensitive area. India may allow some agricultural products, such as almond imports that are already coming to the country. In return, India can claim better access to the US market in areas such as marine products (shrimp, fish), spices, coffee and rubber, where Indian exporters are pioneers in global competition but face US tariff barriers. India has already increased the purchase of oil and gas from the US to balance the business surplus. At the same time, India proposed a reduction in its import tax from 13 percent to 4 percent instead of exemption in US rates. The proposal is similar to the recent FTA with Britain. India wants better access to the US market for industrial products such as steel, aluminum, auto parts and medicine. Recently, the US increased the security fee to 50 percent on these products, which negatively affected Indian exports. India raised the issue in the WTO, but attempts are also underway to solve it through bilateral agreement. In 2024, trade between Indo-US reached $ 129 billion, with India’s trade surplus at $ 45.7 billion. In February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump began ‘Mission 500’, aimed at reaching bilateral trade by 2030 to $ 500 billion. -Ians DSC/GKT