Historic US-India Trade Deal Opens 1.4B Market, Cuts Tariffs

"Last Friday, in a Joint Statement, President Donald J. Trump announced a trade deal between the United States and India that will open up India's market of over 1.4 billion people to American products," the statement said.

Friday's Joint Statement follows a call between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, in which the leaders reached a framework for an Interim Agreement on reciprocal trade and reaffirmed their commitment to broader US-India Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations, the statement said.

"Also on the call, Trump agreed to remove the additional 25% tariff on imports from India in recognition of India's commitment to stop purchasing Russian Federation oil. Accordingly, the President signed an Executive Order last Friday removing that additional 25% tariff," the statement said.

Given India's willingness to align with the United States to confront systemic imbalances in the bilateral trade relationship and shared national security challenges, the United States will lower the Reciprocal Tariff on India from 25% to 18%, the statement said.

The key terms of the Agreement include: India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers' grains (DDGs), red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, certain pulses, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products, as per the statement.

India committed to buying more American products and purchasing over USD 500 billion of U.S. energy, information and communication technology, agricultural, coal, and other products, the statment added.

India will address non-tariff barriers that affect bilateral trade in priority areas.

The United States and India will negotiate rules of origin that ensure that the agreed benefits accrue predominantly to the United States and India.

India will remove its digital services taxes and is committed to negotiating a robust set of bilateral digital trade rules that address discriminatory or burdensome practices and other barriers to digital trade, including rules that prohibit the imposition of customs duties on electronic transmissions, as per White House statement.

The United States and India committed to strengthening economic security alignment to enhance supply chain resilience and innovation through complementary actions to address non-market policies of third parties, as well as cooperating on inbound and outbound investment reviews and export controls.

The United States and India will significantly increase bilateral trade in technology products and expand joint technology cooperation.

"India has maintained some of the highest tariffs on the United States of any major world economy, with tariffs as high as an average of 37% for agricultural goods and more than 100% on certain autos. India also has a history of imposing highly protectionist non-tariff barriers that have banned and prohibited many U.S. exports to India," the statement read.

"In the coming weeks, the United States and India will promptly implement this framework and work toward finalising the Interim Agreement with a view to concluding a mutually beneficial BTA to lock in benefits for American workers and businesses. In line with the roadmap set out in the Terms of Reference for the BTA, the United States and India will continue negotiations to address the remaining tariff barriers, additional non-tariff barriers, technical barriers to trade, customs and trade facilitation, good regulatory practices, trade remedies, services and investment, intellectual property, labor, environment, government procurement, and trade-distorting or unfair practices of state-owned enterprises," the statement read.

The agreement is said to be in line with the national emergency declared by Trump on April 2, 2025, in response to the large and persistent US goods trade deficit caused by a lack of reciprocity in bilateral trade relationships, unfair tariffs and non-tariff barriers, and U.S. trading partners' economic policies that suppress domestic wages and consumption.

Trump continues to advance the interests of the American people by removing tariff and non-tariff barriers and expanding market access for American exporters, including in the agricultural sector, as per the statement.

- ANI