India-US trade talks progressing well, says commerce secretary Sunil Barthwal

COmmerce secretarial assistant Sunil Barthwal on th said that the negotiations for the proposed bilaterally symmetric merchandise accord between India and the US are progressing “very well.”He said that a team from India, led by commerce and industries minister Piyush Goyal, will be going to Washington for further discussions.“The talks are continuing, they are progressing very well, and a team is slated to go to the US to conduct further talks with the US team,” Barthwal told reporters.Goyal will lead the team of senior Indian officials to Washington for discussions on the agreement starting May 17. Meetings with US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are on the cards.Goyal will be in Washington from May 17-20. On the other hand, India's chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal will hold the deliberations with his US counterpart from May 19-22.The talks come against the backdrop of both countries exploring the possibility of an interim trade arrangement in goods to secure "early mutual wins" ahead of finalising the first phase of the trade agreement by fall (September-October) this year.Donald Trump claims India agreed to ‘zero tariffs’US President Donald Trump in Doha claimed that India has agreed to "zero tariffs" on several American goods as against its "highest" tariffs."India is one of the highest tariff nations in the world. It is very hard to sell in India. They have offered us a deal where basically they are willing to -- literally -- they charge us no tariff,” Trump said in Doha."We go from the highest tariff -- you could not do business in India, we are not even in the top 30 in India because the tariff is so high -- to a point where they have actually told us that there will be no tariff. Would you say that is the difference? They were the highest, and now they are saying no tariff," he added.External affairs minister S Jaishankar reacted to Trump's claims while talking to reporters at an event in New Delhi. He called the negotiations complicated and said that nothing is decided till everything is.“Between India and the US, trade talks have been going on, negotiations have been going on, in fact, I think, a team is just going, at this point. These are very complicated negotiations; they are very intricate, and nothing is decided till everything is. But any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial, any trade deal has to work for both countries, and I think that would be our expectation from the trade deal, and until that is done, I think any judgment on it would be premature,” he said.The main issues that will figure in the negotiations during the visit of the Indian team include market access, rules of origin, and non-tariff barriers. Through these discussions, officials from New Delhi and Washington aim to take advantage of the 90-day tariff pause window to advance the talks.With PTI inputs