India, U.S. presently engaged in active negotiations on Bilateral Trade Agreement: Govt in Parliament

Teams of both India and the U.S. are presently engaged in “active negotiations” on the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), the government informed Parliament on Thursday (July 24, 2025).

In a written response to a query in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh also said, “Discussions are aimed at adopting an integrated approach to further strengthen and deepen bilateral trade relations, including through enhanced mutual market access, reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers, and closer integration of supply chains.” The Ministry of External Affairs was asked by Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi whether the government has taken note of the recent announcement by the U.S. administration regarding the reimposition of tariffs on Indian exports.

“On the sidelines of the Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Washington, DC on 1 July 2025, the External Affairs Minister referred to the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations that are going on between India and the U.S.,” Mr. Singh said.

Both sides acknowledged the importance of “maintaining positive momentum” in these negotiations and expressed their commitment to an early conclusion of the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector BTA, the MoS said.

“The trade teams of both countries are presently engaged in active negotiations on the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA),” he added.

Mr. Singh said that on April 2, 2025, the U.S. announced the imposition of additional ad valorem reciprocal duties on 185 countries (including the European Union). As per the order, a 10% tariff was imposed on all countries effective April 5 this year. From April 9, this was to be revised to “country-specific tariffs”.

“The reciprocal tariff applicable to India was fixed at 26%. Subsequently, a 90-day pause, till 9 July 2025, was authorised with substantially lower reciprocal tariff of 10 per cent. On 7 July 2025, the implementation date for the reciprocal tariffs was further extended from 9 July 2025 to 1 August 2025,” he added.