US President Donald Trump (R) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Credit: PTI file photo
New Delhi: A delegation of United States officials reached New Delhi on Monday to restart the negotiations for a trade agreement with India, after the recent exchange of positive vibes between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought the relations back from the brink.
The delegation led by Brendan Lynch, the Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, landed in New Delhi after a visit to Dhaka.
Lynch and other US officials will meet their Indian counterparts on Tuesday to add momentum to the stalled negotiations for the bilateral trade agreement.
Trump’s administration sent Lynch and other officials to New Delhi even as his top aides, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, remained engaged in high-level trade talks with China in Madrid.
A source in New Delhi told DH that the talks between the Indian and American officials would not result in a breakthrough, but would help bring the negotiations back on course.
The negotiations remained stalled for a few weeks as the relations between New Delhi and Washington, D.C. came under stress, as Trump imposed a 50% tax on all imports from India to the US.
Modi and Trump wrote on social media platforms on September 10 that they were looking forward to speaking with each other. They also stated that the officials were working to conclude negotiations for a trade deal soon.
Trump’s aides, like his senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing, Peter Navarro, and the US envoy to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, however, continued to slam India for continuing to buy oil from Russia.
The US president, himself, also purportedly asked the European Union leaders to slap tariffs on India and China to step up pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine. The US asked the G7 nations to impose tariffs on China and India to press them into stopping the purchase of oil from Russia.