US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer described India as a "tough nut to crack" after delegation from New Delhi wrapped up negotiations on the bilateral trade agreement with Washington, news agency PTI reported.
Led by Darpan Jain, Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce, the 12-member delegation held talks on the fine print of the trade deal with the US team led by Brendan Lynch, Assistant USTR for South and Central Asia.
The three-day talks concluded on Wednesday.
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“India is a tough nut to crack... they've protected their agricultural markets for a very long time,” the report quoted Greer's statement to the Committee on Ways and Means of the US Congress on Wednesday.
"As part of this deal, they want to protect a lot of that. There are things, though, where I think we can find mutual agreement. DDGs (distillers dried grains) is a good example of this,” he said.
Greer's statement came in response to questions by lawmakers over exports of DDGs, used as high-protein livestock feed, soybean meal and ethanol.
The trade representative informed the US negotiators were discussing specific issues, such as DDGs, with their counterparts from India.
“Indian trade negotiators are in town this week. So we've been talking this week about these issues, including these specific commodities you talked about, DDGs," Greer said.
Both New Delhi and Washinton announced the framework of the bilateral trade agreement on February 2 and released the text of the deal on February 7.
India is seeking preferential access to the US markets as part of the agreement, with the two countries aiming to achieve bilateral trade of $500 billion by 2030. As per the framework, the US had agreed to cut tariffs on India to 18%, from 50%.
On february 20, the US Supreme Court ruled against Trump's reciprocal tariffs, imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
In light of the Supreme Court order, India is seeking to recalibrate and redraft the agreement to ensure that its interests are protected under the new global tariff framework, the report said.
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