India has said that the first phase of the proposed India–US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) is “nearing closure”. The initial package will focus on reducing the steep reciprocal tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Indian exports. It will also attempt to resolve key market access issues raised by Washington.

A senior government official said the BTA has two major components. One part will require longer negotiations. The other is a tariff-focused package that is almost final.

“We are engaged with the US on the BTA. It has two parts. One part of the negotiations will take time. The other part is a package which can address reciprocal tariffs. We are working on both aspects. The package that can address reciprocal tariffs is more or less near closure, and we should get it soon,”

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