U.S. Seeking Broad Trade Agreement with India

Mar. 11, 2025
By: Hannah B. Kreinik

The U.S. wants everything on the table for a potential mutually beneficial agreement with India. Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, spoke virtually on the issue at a recent Indian conference. Lutnick believes a broad approach is better and quicker for both parties over a product-by-product agreement.

Howard Lutnick described a broad, macro, large-scale agreement as the best option for the U.S. and India. He mentioned India’s Prime Minister having a positive relationship with President Trump, making such an agreement a possibility. Lutnick also noted that India’s agricultural market would need to open to international trade but did not provide many specifics on the issue. He provided suggestions for both parties to use quotas to protect certain markets and said that various products may benefit from different trade approaches. India has already begun the process of lowering tariffs in anticipation of President Trump’s threat of reciprocal tariffs (please see our article here).

The U.S. has previously permitted Indian goods to benefit from the Generalized System of Preferences. During the Biden administration, however, the U.S. looked towards South Asia for new suppliers of critical minerals used in EV battery production, semiconductors, and other goods (see our article on the issue here). The U.S. has previously made strides towards expanding to different industry supply chains and material sourcing in other countries outside of China (see our article here). Importers should anticipate that any agreement reached in the future will likely include multiple products and will set-up India and the U.S. to have overarching free trade.

For more updates on the trade relationship between the U.S. and India, please reach out to any of our Barnes, Richardson & Colburn attorneys.