India, US reschedule chief negotiators meeting on interim trade deal

New Delhi: India and the US have decided to reschedule the proposed meeting of their chief negotiators, supposed to be held in Washington from Monday, to finalise the text for the interim trade pact, sources said on Sunday.

The Indian team was scheduled to start the three-day meeting on February 23 in the US. Joint Secretary in the Commerce Ministry, Darpan Jain, is the chief negotiator of India for this agreement.

“With regards to the visit of the Indian team of negotiators to the US for the India-US trade deal, the two sides are of the view that the proposed visit of the Indian Chief Negotiator and the team be scheduled after each side has had the time to evaluate the latest developments and their implications. The meeting will be rescheduled at a mutually convenient date,” the Commerce Ministry sources said.

The development is important following the US Supreme Court's verdict against sweeping import tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on trade partners. Trump on Friday imposed a 10 per cent tariff on all countries, including India, from February 24 for 150 days after the court verdict.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced raising tariffs on all countries to 15 per cent from 10 per cent announced a day earlier.

In a major setback to Trump's pivotal economic agenda in his second term, the US Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs imposed by Trump on nations around the world were illegal and that the president had exceeded his authority when he imposed the sweeping levies by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977.

The US had imposed a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff on India in August 2025. Later, an additional 25 per cent duty was imposed for buying Russian crude oil, taking the total tariffs on India to 50 per cent.

India and the US, earlier this month, agreed on a framework to finalise an interim trade deal, under which Washington will cut down the tariffs to 18 per cent. So far, the punitive 25 per cent has been removed. The remaining 25 per cent exists.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, Trump has again announced hiking these tariffs to 15 per cent. This levy, if notified, will be over and above the existing MFN or import duties in the US.

For instance, if a product faces a 5 per cent MFN duty, an additional 15 per cent will be imposed, taking the effective duty to 20 per cent. Earlier, this was 5 plus 25 per cent.

There is, however, no clarity about what the US tariff will be on countries such as India after the 150-day period.

To sign and implement the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, the framework has to be converted into a legal document.

To finalise the legal text for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, the Indian team is scheduled to meet its counterparts in Washington from February 23-26, 2026. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said the deal may be signed in March and implemented in April.

During 2021-25, the US was India's largest trading partner in goods. The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India's total exports, 6.22 per cent of its imports, and 10.73 per cent of its bilateral trade.

In 2024-25, bilateral trade totalled USD 186 billion (USD 86.5 billion in exports and USD 45.3 billion in imports).