India-US trade deal: Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that New Delhi and Washington DC will sign a joint statement on the India-US trade deal in four to five days.
The countries will also release the legal text of the first tranche of the India-US trade deal, under which US President Donald Trump had earlier announced a significant tariff reduction for New Delhi.
“The first tranche of the bilateral trade Agreement is almost ready. We hope to sign a joint statement in the next 4-5 days. After the joint statement there will be a formal agreement which will be signed around mid March,” Goyal told reporters on the day.
Following the signing of the joint statement, the US will issue an executive order to reduce the tariff to 18%, Goyal noted.
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal was also addressing the press conference to clarify the technicalities of the deal. He said that the joint statement needed to be converted to a legal agreement.
“This legal agreement will give us the authority to reduce our tariffs… Their tariffs are executive tariffs. Our tariffs are MFN tariffs. Our MFN tariff reduction can only take effect after the legal agreement has been signed,” Agrawal said.
(This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates)
