A US delegation led by lead negotiator Brendan Lynch arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday to start trade talks between India and the US again. The negotiations starting up again could mean that things are getting better between the two countries after a time of higher tensions because of US President Donald Trump’s high tariffs on India.
Peter Navarro, a trade advisor at the White House, hinted at the good news. Navarro told media on Sunday that India was “coming to the table.” He notably talked about a recent tweet from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that was “very conciliatory, nice, and constructive,” and President Trump had responded nicely. Navarro also said, “We’ll see how this works.”
The talks are taking place in New Delhi with high-ranking officials from India’s commerce ministry, such as top negotiator and special secretary Rajesh Agrawal. The meeting gives people hope that a free trade agreement would go forward again after Trump put a 25% tax on India in response to its continued purchase of Russian energy.
Navarro said that even while talks are still going on, the US is still worried about India’s trade practices. “In practice, we know that they have the highest tariffs of any major country when it comes to trade.” “They have very high non-tariff barriers,” he remarked.
He also said again that the US strongly disagrees with India’s recent rise in oil purchases from Russia. “India buys Russian oil, something it never did… Navarro told media that it never did that before 2022. He pointed out that Indian refiners started buying Russian oil just after the war between Russia and Ukraine started. Last month, Trump raised tariffs on India to 50% in an effort to get New Delhi to cut ties with Moscow. This practice has been a major source of disagreement.
Even though things have been tense between the two countries lately, both leaders have said in public that they will keep talking. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform last week that he was “sure that there will be no trouble in reaching a successful conclusion for both of our great countries!” Prime Minister Modi said that the two countries were “close friends and natural partners” and that teams were striving to finish talks “as soon as possible.”