India's Commerce Minister to Visit US Tomorrow for Trade Talks... "Aiming for Early Conclusion"

Foreign Media: "US Raises India's Russian Crude Oil Imports as Negotiation Agenda"

Indian Prime Minister Modi (left) and US President Trump [Reuters Yonhap News. Reproduction and DB prohibited]

India's Minister of Commerce and Industry is heading to Washington to continue trade negotiations with the United States, which imposed a 50% tariff on Indian products last month, citing reasons such as Russian crude oil imports.

According to Reuters and other foreign media on the 21st (local time), Piyush Goyal, India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, is scheduled to visit Washington on the 22nd to hold trade talks with a US delegation.

The Indian government stated in a release, "The delegation plans to discuss aiming for an early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement."

Previously, a US delegation led by Brendan Lynch, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, visited New Delhi, India on the 16th and met with the Indian delegation, including Chief Negotiator Rajesh Agrawal.

Bloomberg reported that the US raised the issue of India's purchase of Russian crude oil as an agenda item for trade negotiations during the meeting.

It added that this is an unusual case of dealing with the relationship between a trading partner and a third country in trade negotiations.

At the time of the negotiations, India demanded that the US withdraw the additional 25% retaliatory tariff imposed due to Russian crude oil imports.

The Indian delegation reportedly argued that the additional 25% tariff was "unfair and unreasonable" and that Russian crude oil imports were necessary for energy security.

Bloomberg reported that with the recent increase in fuel demand in India, local refiners have no plans to reduce their purchases of Russian crude oil, and the Indian government has not issued any orders to cut back on these purchases.

However, after the recent negotiations in New Delhi with the US delegation, the Indian government stated that "(the discussions) were positive and forward-looking."

Earlier, the US imposed a 26% country-specific tariff (reciprocal tariff) on India in April, and although the two countries have held five rounds of negotiations since then, they have failed to reach an agreement due to disagreements over lowering tariffs on US agricultural products and India halting its purchases of Russian crude oil.

Ultimately, President Trump imposed a reciprocal tariff of 25%, which is 1% lower than before, and an additional 25% sanction tariff on India for its oil transactions with Russia.

The 50% tariff is one of the highest rates imposed by the US on its global trading partners and is the same as the tariff imposed on Brazil.

According to India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India's exports to the US decreased by approximately $1.15 billion (about 1.6 trillion won) from $8.01 billion (about 11.2 trillion won) in July to $6.86 billion (about 9.6 trillion won) in August.

Indian exporters expressed concern that the full impact of the 50% tariff would begin to be felt from this month. Yonhap News