U.S. Trade Team Heads to India for Pact Talks

A U.S. trade team will travel to India from June 1 to 4 to work through the remaining details of an interim trade pact and keep broader negotiations moving on a bilateral trade agreement, India’s commerce ministry said Wednesday.

The delegation will be led by Brendan Lynch, the U.S. chief negotiator, according to the ministry. Officials from both countries are expected to focus on market access, non-tariff barriers, customs procedures, trade facilitation, investment promotion and economic security alignment.

The talks come after India and the United States issued a joint statement on Feb. 7 outlining the framework for the first phase of a bilateral trade agreement. Since then, negotiators have been working on the legal text of the deal and on how it should be adjusted to reflect changes in the tariff environment in Washington.

Under the framework discussed earlier this year, India had proposed eliminating or reducing tariffs on a broad range of U.S. industrial goods and food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits. The package also included plans by New Delhi to increase purchases of U.S. energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products and coking coal over five years.

The June meeting is being watched closely by exporters of wine and spirits because tariff changes could affect pricing and access in one of the world’s fastest-growing consumer markets. Any reduction in duties would matter for U.S. producers seeking a larger share of India’s premium beverage segment, where taxes and import costs have long limited sales.

The negotiations have moved unevenly this year as trade policy shifted in the United States. A planned February meeting between the chief negotiators was postponed after changes in U.S. tariff policy. The two sides later met in Washington last month, when India’s negotiating team, led by Darpan Jain, visited from April 20 to 23.

The ministry said both sides now want to finalize the interim agreement while continuing work on the broader bilateral trade agreement. That broader deal is meant to cover a wider set of commercial issues beyond tariffs alone.

The timing is important because the U.S. tariff landscape has changed since the original framework was announced. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. After that ruling, Trump announced a 10% tariff on all countries for 150 days starting Feb. 24.

India has also faced separate scrutiny from Washington. In March, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative launched two investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 involving several countries, including India, over excess capacity and allegations tied to forced labor in global supply chains. India has rejected those claims and asked that the probes be initiated only with a clearer factual basis.

U.S. officials have recently signaled optimism about reaching an agreement in the coming months. Sergio Gor, the U.S. ambassador to India, said Washington remained hopeful about concluding the proposed bilateral trade pact soon.

The talks are taking place as trade between the two countries remains large but uneven. The United States was India’s second-largest trading partner in 2025-26. Indian exports to the U.S. rose 0.92% to $87.3 billion in the last fiscal year, while imports from the U.S. increased 15.95% to $52.9 billion. India’s trade surplus with the United States narrowed to $34.4 billion from $40.89 billion a year earlier.

The June visit also follows a recent push by both governments to deepen cooperation on critical minerals, an area that has gained urgency as China tightens export controls on rare earths and other strategic materials used in technology supply chains.

For beverage companies watching India’s market, the next round of talks could help determine whether wine and spirits remain heavily taxed imports or become part of a broader opening between two major economies still trying to settle their terms of trade.