Piyush Goyal, Greer To Give 'Final Touches' To India-US Interim Trade Deal During June 23-24 Talks

Published 15 June 2026 · local

Piyush Goyal, Greer To Give 'Final Touches' To India-US Interim Trade Deal During June 23-24 Talks Published By, Last Updated: June 15, 2026, 17:25 IST

Piyush Goyal, Greer To Give 'Final Touches' To India-US Interim Trade Deal During June 23-24 Talks Published By, Last Updated: June 15, 2026, 17:25 IST US Trade Rep Jamieson Greer to visit New Delhi on June 22-24 to meet Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for finalising Indo-US interim trade agreement framework before July 24 deadline Rapid Read Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal. (File photo) US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will visit New Delhi on June 22 and hold two days of talks with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on June 23-24 to advance the India-US interim trade agreement, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal confirmed on Monday. Agrawal said discussions were expected to focus on “giving final touches to the framework deal" negotiated during recent delegation-level talks, and on the broader bilateral trade agreement (BTA) under discussion between both sides. The Greer visit comes roughly three weeks after the previous round, when a US team headed by chief negotiator Brendan Lynch held discussions with Indian counterparts in New Delhi from June 2 to 4. Goyal said on June 5 that both sides were moving towards closing the “open ends" of the interim agreement and expected to execute the first phase of the BTA by mid-July.

The July 24 deadline looms over these talks. The US currently charges all trading partners a uniform 10 per cent tariff, a rate President Donald Trump announced on February 24 after the US Supreme Court struck down his broader reciprocal tariff structure on February 20. That structure, imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, had charged India 50 per cent. The 10 per cent regime runs for 150 days and expires on July 24. The original February 7 joint framework had India receiving a specific tariff advantage: the US would cut duties on Indian goods from 50 per cent to 18 per cent, and separately remove the 25 per cent surcharge levied for India’s purchase of Russian oil. The court’s intervention collapsed that structure. With every US trading partner now at 10 per cent, the advantage India held over regional competitors Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh has narrowed considerably, and both sides have said the framework requires recalibration. The February agreement also included a clause that allows either country to modify its commitments if the other side changes its tariff position, a provision that now carries direct relevance.

Under the framework as agreed, India had proposed eliminating or reducing tariffs on US industrial goods and a range of agricultural products including dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine, and spirits. New Delhi had also stated an intention to purchase USD 500 billion worth of US energy products, aircraft, precious metals, technology products, and coking coal over five years. Running parallel to the trade talks is the threat of Section 301 action. The USTR launched investigations in March against 60 countries, including India, over alleged excess capacity and forced labour in supply chains. On June 2, the USTR proposed 12.5 per cent tariffs on 54 of those countries. Greer’s office said the measure remains a proposal; hearings are scheduled for July 7, and interested parties can file to appear by June 22, the same day Greer is scheduled to land in New Delhi. The US was India’s second-largest trading partner in 2025-26. India’s exports to the US grew 0.92 per cent to USD 87.3 billion that year, while imports rose 15.95 per cent to USD 52.9 billion.