New Delhi, March 27 Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Friday, where they discussed the next steps in the India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) negotiations.
The two, who met on the sidelines of the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) of the World Trade Organization in Yaounde, Cameroon, also discussed issues related to the WTO meeting.
The four-day meeting began on March 26.
"Had a very productive discussion with @USTradeRep Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the WTO Ministerial Conference. We exchanged views on the #WTOMC14 agenda, the next steps in the India-US BTA negotiations, and explored ways to further deepen our economic cooperation and bilateral trade ties," Goyal said in a social media post.
The two countries announced last month that they had finalized a framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement. It has not yet been signed.
India and the US announced a trade deal on February 2. A joint statement for the same was released on February 7.
According to the framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18 per cent.
However, the tariff structure in the US has changed following its Supreme Court ruling against President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs. After that, the US President imposed 10 per cent tariffs on all countries for 150 days from February 24.
In view of these changes, a meeting of the chief negotiators of India and the US has been postponed. They were scheduled to meet last month to finalize the legal text of the pact, which was expected to be signed this month.
An official had earlier stated that the interim trade agreement between India and the US will be signed once the new global tariff architecture of America is in place.