Tough nut to crack: US as India seeks edge over rivals in trade talks

The fresh round of trade talks come amid wider uncertainty over Trump's tariffs, which has complicated efforts to clinch a deal. India is pushing for preferential access to the US market, while Washington is seeking greater openings in agriculture and related sectors.

In Short

• A 12-member Indian team held three days of negotiations in Washington
• Discussions focused on fine print of the proposed bilateral trade pact
• US wants wider agricultural access while India seeks market preferences

India appears to be holding its ground and negotiating from a position of strength in trade talks with Washington, with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer acknowledging the challenge, saying the country is a "tough nut to crack".

The remarks came after the latest round of negotiations wrapped up in Washington on Wednesday. A 12-member Indian delegation led chief negotiator Darpan Jain met with a US team over three days to iron out the fine print of the bilateral trade deal.

"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, as reported by news agency PTI.

The negotiations come amid wider uncertainty over US tariff policy, which has complicated efforts to clinch a deal. India is pushing for preferential access to the American market, while Washington is seeking greater openings, particularly in agriculture and dairy.

"As part of this deal, they want to protect a lot of that. There are things, though, where I think we can find mutual agreement. DDGs (distillers dried grains) is a good example of this," he said, responding to US lawmakers’ questions on exports of livestock feed, soybean meal and ethanol.

The latest rounds of talks are working towards finalising a bilateral trade pact after the two sides stitched up a framework agreement back in February, before the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs.

Under the February framework, the US had agreed to cut tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent, including rolling back a 25 per cent levy linked to India’s purchase of Russian oil. However, a baseline 10 per cent import duty is temporarily in effect.

No concrete outcomes emerged from this week’s talks, but both sides will continue to engage, Reuters reported citing a government official privy to the matter.

Back home, New Delhi said talks with Washington are "ongoing and constructive".

“Both sides are working towards a balanced, mutually beneficial and forward-looking trade agreement, taking into account each other's concerns and priorities, and to achieve a trade target of $500 billion by 2030,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a press briefing on Thursday.

That goal would more than double current bilateral goods and services trade, estimated at about $212 billion in 2024.

Earlier this week, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the two sides had nearly finalised the first tranche of the trade pact, with work ongoing on remaining details, including a mechanism to secure preferential market access for India over competitors in the US market.

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