Reportedly the united states wants india to buy at least another $5-6 billion worth of American farm goods if New delhi wants to win reinstatement of a key US trade concession and seal a wider pact, four sources familiar with the talks told Reuters. Meanwhile US President donald trump cited trade barriers last year when removing india from its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) programme that allowed zero tariffs on $5.6 billion of exports to the United States. In retaliation, india slapped higher tariffs on more than two dozens US products.
Meanwhile ahead of a trump visit to New delhi to meet prime minister narendra modi next month, negotiators on both sides are hammering out terms for a trade deal that would include New delhi rolling back higher tariffs on some farm goods such as almonds, walnuts and apples. Perhaps both governments had hoped to work out a limited trade deal last year, but struggled to reach an agreement.
Moreover India’s commerce ministry and the US Embassy in New delhi did not respond to a request for comment. The office of the US Trade Representative did not immediately respond outside regular business hours. While india has offered partial relief on medical device price caps that have hurt American pharma giants and a roll-back in tariffs on some US goods, Trump’s team wants a sweetener of $5-6 billion in additional trade for US goods to restore GSP privileges, three of the sources said.
