Two-pronged approach: India steps up negotiation efforts for trade deals

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and a senior commerce ministry official will be in the US next week for engagements with the Trump administration, officials said on Saturday, embarking on separate but simultaneous visits that are part of a two-pronged approach by New Delhi to deepen economic engagement with potential trade partners.

The engagements in America, similar to recent talks with the European Union and the UK, are part of a carefully calibrated approach: the finance minister leads efforts to smoothen talks while commerce minister Piyush Goyal’s teams engage in hard bargaining, these people said.

“These visits may appear isolated and coincidental at first glance, but the current leadership in New Delhi believes in the whole-of-government (WoG) approach for better coordination and expeditious resolution of matters in the nation’s interest,” one of them said.

The Union government in a statement on Saturday said Sitharaman will begin her trip to US and Peru on April 20. The visits will also include meetings with “the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, the 2nd G20 finance ministers and central bank governor (FMCBG) meetings, development committee plenary, IMFC plenary, and global sovereign debt roundtable (GSDR) meeting,” the government said.

The people cited above confirmed that when she arrives in the US, Sitharaman will meet senior Trump administration officials, including treasury secretary Scott Bessent and US trade representative Jamieson Greer. Concurrently, Rajesh Agrawal, India’s chief negotiator for the India-US bilateral trade deal, will visit Washington on Wednesday and Thursday.

Agrawal’s visit is “purely technical in nature” and aimed at resolving issues within the 90-day tariff pause period, another official said. The government on Friday elevated Agrawal’s position by designating him as the next commerce secretary from October 1, after the superannuation of incumbent Sunil Barthwal.

FM’s interaction with American officials will act as a catalyst for the negotiating teams of India and the US, especially when leaders of the two countries have set a September-October 2025 deadline to conclude the first tranche of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA).

Both New Delhi and Washington are keen to close at least the first tranche of BTA negotiations sooner than this deadline, as India has decided to follow the trade liberalisation path with the US.

On February 13, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump resolved to deepen the US-India trade relationship, leading to boost total bilateral trade from about $200 billion to $500 billion by 2030, dubbed “Mission 500”.

“After finalising the terms of reference last month, the two parties are engaged in talks through virtual means,” the second official said. “Agrawal’s visit to the US will resolve some technical issues and would become the precursor for the second physical round, expected in the second half of next month.”

India and the US concluded their first physical round of trade negotiations on March 29 in New Delhi. The US delegation was led by assistant US trade representative Brendan Lynch. The terms of reference for the proposed BTA include about 20 chapters covering goods, services, rules of origin, technical barriers, processes and customs facilitation.

The US is India’s largest trading partner, accounting for about 18% of the country’s total merchandise exports and 6.22% of imports. India maintains a trade surplus with America exceeding $41 billion in merchandise, which has raised concerns in Washington. The Trump administration imposed a 26% reciprocal tariff on India on April 2, later suspended until July 9.

Following her American visit, Sitharaman plans to travel to Peru, with which India is negotiating a free trade agreement and plans to import critical minerals. Her visit follows the seventh round of India-Peru negotiations that concluded in New Delhi on April 11, 2025.

Sitharaman recently returned from the UK where she met several leaders, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves and secretary of state for business and trade Jonathan Reynolds. She subsequently visited Vienna, meeting her Austrian counterpart, Markus Marterbauer.

“All these countries are important as we are having FTA talks with them. It is our stated policy that exports is one of the key engines of India’s growth. Hence, FM’s visits to these countries are of immense significance,” an official said.