In a major development, India has apparently finalized the terms of reference (ToR) for a bilateral trade agreement with the United States, The Indian Express said on April 2.
This development was made after direct intervention by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the report said.
The move comes a day ahead of the April 2 deadline for US President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day," when Washington's retaliatory tariffs on Indian products will come into effect.
The ToR is the basis of the trade agreement and needs to be approved by the country's highest political leadership. The newspaper also added that the PMO insisted on a "swift finalization" of the agreement.
With the framework in hand, the two nations are ready to go into formal negotiations, which might result in India substantially lowering tariffs on American goods, The Indian Express quoted sources as saying.
In the meantime, deliberations within the Trump administration on the details of the reciprocal tariffs are ongoing, with the final word due just before their planned announcement on Wednesday afternoon.
Bloomberg, in a report, quoting sources familiar with the issue, said that Trump's administration was in hot deliberations on Tuesday, weighing their options prior to a Rose Garden ceremony to be held at the time when US markets close at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
President Trump stated on Monday that India was likely to make major reductions in its tariffs on American goods after it imposed the new reciprocal tax policy.
"If you look at the European Union on automobiles. the EU already lowered their tariffs to 2.5%, which was two days ago. I just heard a little while ago that India is going to be lowering their tariffs very significantly." the President informed reporters in the Oval Office. But until now, no official word from the Indian government has been confirmed about this remark.
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