India steps up efforts to wrap up interim trade deal with US; Indian team to visit US next week

17 Feb 2026 Evaluate

With a view to finalise trade pact as early as possible, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal has said that in the coming week, an Indian officials’ team will visit the US to finalise the legal text for an interim trade agreement, which is expected to be signed in March. The visit is likely to start from February 23, 2026. Earlier, on February 7, the two countries issued a joint statement finalising a framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement. 

Agrawal said ‘the joint statement lays down the contours of the deal. Now the contours of the deal have to be translated into a legal agreement, which will be signed between the two sides’. He noted that both sides are engaged in finalising that legal agreement and virtual talks are going on. He added India’s chief negotiator Darpan Jain will be leading a delegation to the US to finalise the legal trade agreement.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador Sergio Gor and Admiral Samuel J Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, visited the Indian Army’s Western Command headquarters on February 16, 2026 and held discussions with Lieutenant General Manoj Kumar Katiyar on strategic security dynamics along India’s Western Front. Gor said the US-India defence partnership continues to grow stronger.


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