India and the United States have welcomed “significant progress” in ongoing negotiations for a mutually beneficial Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), the government said following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and American Vice President J D Vance in New Delhi on Monday.
Visiting India amid a globally unfolding trade war, Vance held detailed discussions with Modi, reviewing and positively assessing the progress in various areas of bilateral cooperation, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.
Both countries also noted continued efforts to enhance cooperation in areas such as energy, defence, strategic technologies, and other sectors, according to the PMO. The two leaders exchanged views on a range of regional and global issues of mutual interest, and called for dialogue and diplomacy as the preferred path forward.
The Prime Minister conveyed greetings to US President Donald Trump, the PMO added, saying he looked forward to Trump’s visit to India later this year. The American president is expected to travel to India in September or October to attend the fifth Quad Leaders’ Summit.
Both sides hope to conclude the first tranche of the BTA by the fall (September-October) this year.
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India said the BTA would be centred on the “welfare of the people of the two countries”. The United States remains India’s largest export destination, with a trade surplus that widened to $41 billion in FY25, from $35 billion the previous year. While imports from the US grew 7.4 per cent to $45.3 billion, exports surged by 11 per cent to reach $86.5 billion -- a trade imbalance the Trump administration has frequently highlighted.
Vance — accompanied by Second Lady Usha Vance and their children Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel — was hosted at the Prime Minister's residence. Earlier in the day, the family visited the Akshardham Temple in Delhi.
Vance's first official visit to India coincides with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s five-day trip to the United States, where she will take part in the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, along with several key G20 meetings. Sitharaman is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with her counterparts from countries, including Argentina, Bahrain, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Later this week, a team of commerce department officials, led by chief negotiator and commerce secretary-designate Rajesh Agarwal, will hold discussions with their US counterparts in Washington DC. The meetings, which are set to begin on April 23, will continue for three days.
Vance arrived in New Delhi on Monday morning after a three-day official visit to Italy. The four-day trip to India is expected to deepen the India–US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. The US Vice President will travel to Jaipur on Tuesday, followed by a visit to Agra on Wednesday to see the Taj Mahal.
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The Ministry of Finance on Monday announced the imposition of a 12 per cent provisional safeguard duty on certain steel products to protect the domestic industry from injury caused by a recent spike in imports of such products.
The duty came into effect immediately for a period of 200 days — unless revoked, superseded, or amended earlier, the ministry said in a notification.
The finance ministry excluded developing countries from the safeguard duties other than China and Vietnam.
A safeguard duty is a temporary tariff barrier imposed by a country to protect its domestic industry from a surge in imports.
The development came amid the risk of a further surge in steel imports following the 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium imposed by the US, which came into effect on March 12. The imposition of the duty is mainly aimed at protecting the industry from cheap Chinese steel imports.
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The finance ministry’s order came a month after the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry recommended a 12 per cent safeguard duty on certain steel products for a period of 200 days.
Steel Minister H D Kumaraswamy said the imposition of the safeguard duty would protect Indian manufacturers, ensure fair competition, and boost India’s domestic industry.
T V Narendran, chief executive officer and managing director, Tata Steel, welcomed the government’s decision to impose a safeguard duty on certain steel imports.
“This is a critical step in addressing the surge of unfairly priced imports to India. As we have highlighted before, unchecked imports — especially from countries with significant excess capacity — threaten domestic manufacturing, employment, and future investments. This decision will help restore fair competition, ensure the industry’s long-term sustainability, and support India’s vision of a self-reliant and globally competitive steel sector,” Narendran said.
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