2 min readNew DelhiApr 16, 2026 01:36 AM IST
A month after the US launched two Section 301(b) investigations under the Trade Act of 1974 against scores of countries, including India, negotiators from the Commerce and Industry Ministry are set to reach Washington on April 20 for trade deal talks.
The upcoming round of negotiations have come up at a time when the US could be working on a new tariff architecture to replace reciprocal tariffs, which were struck down by the US Supreme Court in February.
“The Indian team, led by the Chief negotiator [Darpan Jain], will be visiting the US from April 20. The negotiating teams will be meeting in person after a gap of about 3–4 months. They have been engaging virtually in the meantime. We are looking at finalising the legal agreement, which is a logical follow-up to the joint statement released on February 7. There is a need for further discussions and follow-up engagement to take this forward,” Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal said.
“The US has initiated investigations involving several countries. Both sides will sit together and discuss how these issues need to be structured and addressed. India and the US will work together to finalise timelines and next steps as part of the ongoing engagement,” Agarwal said.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had earlier said that negotiations with the US would resume after further clarity on the US tariff situation. A Commerce Ministry official had explained that any trade deal with the US that India signs would be around a tariff structure or comparative advantage that India gets in the US market, and that the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is in the process of recreating a tariff structure.
Targeting India over “structural excess capacity and production”, USTR had said that India had a bilateral trade surplus of $58 billion with the United States, and that India’s global goods trade surplus sectors include textiles, health, construction goods, and automotive goods.
“For example, evidence suggests the solar module sector is plagued by excess capacity, including that India’s current module manufacturing is nearly triple the annual domestic demand. India also has created significant excess capacity in petrochemicals, steel, and other industries,” USTR said earlier this month.
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