India, United States close to inking of first tranche of trade deal, says official

Issues of both 25% reciprocal and 25% ‘punitive’ tariffs likely to be addressed. Meanwhile, Indian PSU oil companies have signed first-ever deal to purchase liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the US.

New Delhi: India and the United States are close to announcing the first tranche of trade deal, which will address the issues related to the 25% reciprocal tariff and the additional 25% punitive tariff imposed by the Trump administration due to India's economic engagement with Russia, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Monday.

Talking to reporters, Agrawal said officials from the two sides are negotiating the issue on a regular basis through virtual mode and the first tranche of the deal would be announced soon.

However, he refused to give any deadline saying usually the last round negotiations are the toughest.

India and the US launched negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) in March this year. So far six rounds of negotiations have been held, the last being from October 15-17, for which Agrawal along with other senior officials visited Washington.

He said the US government shutdown has impacted the pace of the negotiations.

“We are engaged with the US on the BTA. It has two parts. One part of negotiations will take time. The other part is a package which can address reciprocal tariffs. We are working on both aspects,” he said.

“The package that can address reciprocal tariffs is more or less near closure and we should get it soon,” the official said.

Meanwhile, Indian PSU oil companies have signed first-ever deal to purchase liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the US.

Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) have signed a one-year structured contract to import around 2.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LPG from the US Gulf Coast for the contract year 2026, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said in a statement.

This represents close to ten percent of India’s annual LPG imports and marks the first such structured US LPG contract for the Indian market. The Minister described the decision as a historic development, noting that one of the world’s largest and fastest growing LPG markets has now opened up to the United States.

Analysts said the deal would help reduce trade gap and address the concern of the US in the ongoing negotiations for the proposed bilateral trade agreement.