NITI Aayog CEO confident of early India-US trade pact

07 Oct 2025 Evaluate

NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam has exuded confidence that a trade agreement would be concluded between India and the US soon, as both countries are committed to having a mutually beneficial bilateral trade pact. Moreover, he said that India should lower tariffs and non-tariff barriers and open its markets to improve competitiveness in manufacturing.

He stated ‘So the good thing is, both sides are still committed to having a trade deal. So negotiations happened last month, so I think both sides are hopeful.’ The ties between New Delhi and Washington have come under severe stress after US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods in August to 50 per cent, including an additional 25 per cent duty on India's purchase of Russian crude oil. India had described the US action as unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.

Talking about the impact of a whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods, Subrahmanyam said ‘Building a trade channel is difficult, and unwinding a trade channel is also difficult No impact will happen till Christmas.’ However, he noted that summer is going to be an issue if both countries do not settle the trade deal. Besides, he said ‘We are at a disadvantage...50 per cent tariffs are a major, major cost factor... There is no escaping that. People are hopeful that if the trade deal comes through by November, then there will be no disruption.’


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