Modi and Vance praise progress in trade talks as higher tariffs loom

BBC:

India and the US are making progress in negotiating a bilateral trade deal, the countries said after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice-President JD Vance in Delhi.

Vance is currently on a four-day visit to India with his wife and three children.

“We are committed to mutually beneficial cooperation, including in trade, technology, defence, energy and people-to-people exchanges,” Modi wrote on X after the meeting on Monday night. He also hosted a dinner for Vance and his family at his residence.

India is among a number of countries negotiating trade deals with the US during President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on higher tariffs, which ends on 9 July.

India was set to face 27% US tariffs before the pause was announced. Since then, Delhi and Washington have been working towards an early conclusion of trade negotiations.

Modi and Trump share a warm personal relationship – the Indian prime minister was among the first global leaders to visit Trump after his second term began. But the US president has repeatedly taken aim at India’s high tariffs, branding it a “tariff king” and a “big abuser” of trade ties.

Even in the statement issued on Monday after Vance’s meeting, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer highlighted the “serious lack of reciprocity in the trade relationship with India”.

India has already cut tariffs on a number of goods in the past few months and is reportedly considering more wide-ranging cuts to pacify Trump. But sectors like agriculture – Washington wants greater access to it but India fiercely protects it – are still sticking points.

In addition to trade, the two leaders also discussed cooperation in defence, strategic technologies and energy, Modi’s office said.

The Indian prime minister also said that he was looking forward to welcoming Trump to India this year. Delhi is hosting the Quad summit later this year and the US president is expected to attend it.

The bilateral meeting was followed by delegation-level talks and the dinner hosted by Modi.