US trade officials led by chief negotiator Brendan Lynch are due to begin four days of talks in New Delhi on Monday to try to seal an interim trade agreement with India, as both sides indicate a deal could be reached within weeks.
The visit by the US delegation from June 1-4 follows an in-person round of discussions held in Washington during April 20-23 and is expected to focus on ironing out the remaining issues in the proposed interim trade pact.
According to the Commerce Ministry, the discussions will cover areas including "market access, non-tariff measures, customs and trade facilitation, investment promotion, and economic security alignment."
India's negotiating team is being led by Darpan Jain, Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce, while the US side is headed by Lynch, the chief negotiator.
India and the United States agreed in February on a framework for an interim trade agreement as part of efforts to deepen economic ties and lay the groundwork for a wider bilateral trade pact.
The upcoming negotiations come amid growing optimism from senior US officials that an agreement could be reached soon.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview with India Today last week, said that the two countries were "down to very final details" and expressed confidence that they were "on the verge of a trade deal."
"We hope to have agreement next week or the week after," Rubio said, without putting a definitive timeline on the talks. "I think it's weeks, not months."
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said on Friday that only about 1% of the proposed deal remained to be finalised and that Washington expected the agreement to be signed in the coming weeks after the latest round of negotiations in New Delhi.
"Our current interim trade agreement is on the table for us to finalise and that will unlock prosperity for both of our countries," Gor said during an address at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
Agriculture key sticking point
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer recently described agriculture as one of the more difficult areas in the talks, saying India has long maintained protections for its farm sector.
"India is a tough nut to crack. They've protected their agricultural markets for a very long time," Greer told the Committee on Ways and Means of the US Congress.
The negotiations come amid uncertainty over US tariff policy after a series of legal challenges to President Donald Trump's trade measures.
Tariff uncertainty
The two sides had originally discussed an arrangement under which the United States would lower tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 50% and remove an additional 25% tariff linked to India's purchase of Russian oil.
However, the framework required adjustments after US courts challenged the legal basis of some of Trump's tariff actions.
The US Supreme Court on February 20 ruled against President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Following the ruling, the Trump administration moved to a flat 10% tariff regime for all trading partners.
Last month, a US federal court ruled Trump's across-the-board 10% tariffs invalid, dealing another blow to his trade agenda and raising fresh uncertainty over the administration's ability to impose sweeping import duties without congressional approval.