A renewed push to conclude a U.S.-India trade deal may get underway, analysts say, as the White House sees other countries and power blocs working harder than ever to remove barriers to trade and tariffs.
The urgency and impetus to get talks over the line could come after the EU and India signed off on a long-awaited trade deal on Tuesday, with the agreement seeing both sides phase out tariffs on the vast majority of each other’s imports.
“The EU–India deal could ... light a fire under efforts to conclude a U.S.–India trade deal and help to move negotiations forward on a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement,” Mark Linscott, nonresident senior fellow on India at the Atlantic Council, commented Tuesday.
Trump has yet to react to the EU-India deal, which was two decades in the making, but Washington could view bilateral trade agreements between other powerful nations with concern and as a potential threat.
The U.S. already has a trade deal with the EU (which has maintained 15% tariffs on EU exports to the States) but when it comes to the U.S.′ own stalled trade talks with India — a country it imposed a 50% tariff on — it certainly leaves negotiations in more uncertain territory.
