Meeting scheduled: India to negotiate before US reciprocal tariff commissions on April 2

India has taken a step ahead to negotiate terms with the United States this week as the date for reciprocal tariff implementation, as announced by the US federal government, is approaching soon. To make things official of the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), the teams from both nations are going to make BTA the key focus of a scheduled meeting within the next couple of days. With such an agenda, a team of United States (US) officials, headed by Assistant Trade Representative Brendan Lynch, are coming to New Delhi to have talks with their counterparts in India. 

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Both parties seek to furnish the first phase of a mutually worthwhile arrangement by fall 2025. The meetings are organised a week ahead of the United States reciprocal tariff imposition, which is scheduled to take effect on April 2.

On the other hand, India’s aluminium shipments to the US, its top export market for the metal, are likely to drop due to tariffs imposed by Washington, nudging Indian manufacturers to look at other markets such as Europe, according to a Reuters report, including statements of industry executives and a government source.

India, the world’s second-largest primary aluminium producer, exported 0.2 million tonnes of aluminium to the US, worth INR 78.3 billion (USD 894.4 million), in the year to March 2024, government data showed. In 2024, the US imported nearly 38 per cent of aluminium conductors by weight from India, valued at USD 130 million. In 2023, imports peaked at USD 261 million, rising from just USD 40 million in 2021, data from the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) reveals.

India has communicated a ‘non-paper’ or a non-binding, informal discussion paper with the US to share New Delhi’s side of the story and propositions concerning the matter.