India's decision to reserve its rights to impose retaliatory duties on the US over imposition of tariffs on auto parts is a procedural move under the WTO agreement on safeguards and it will not affect ongoing negotiations on the proposed trade pact between the two countries, an official said. India on Friday proposed imposing retaliatory duties under the WTO (World Trade Organisation) norms against the US over American tariffs on imports of the country's auto parts in the name of safeguard measures.
In their talks, Modi and Merz are likely to deliberate on trade and investment ties as New Delhi is looking at deepening economic engagement with Europe against the backdrop of Washington's 50 percent tariff on Indian goods, people familiar with the matter said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveyed a strong message to his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski regarding terrorism and the Ukraine conflict, emphasizing the need for zero-tolerance towards terrorism and criticizing the selective targeting of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a roundtable with AI startup CEOs and held bilateral meetings with global leaders at the India AI Impact Summit, focusing on AI's potential across sectors and international cooperation.
An Indian official team is likely to visit Washington next week to iron out differences on certain issues before formally launching negotiations for the proposed India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA), an official said. The visit, which comes within weeks of a high-level US team visiting India, indicates that the talks for the BTA are gaining momentum.
The commonalities of interests are immense for growth in trade between India and the US.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel aims to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two nations, focusing on cooperation in various sectors including defense, technology, and trade.
A team of senior officials from India will again visit Washington this month to hold discussions with their US counterparts on the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), government sources said on Thursday. To give impetus to the talks, India's chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal, special secretary in the Department of Commerce, and Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch had last month held three-day talks in Washington.
India's major imports from the US include crude oil and petroleum products, gold and jewellery, plastics, aircraft, and electrical machinery and components. The key exports to the US comprise pharmaceuticals and biologicals, telecom equipment, precious and semi-precious stones, petroleum products, gold and precious metal jewellery, and ready-made garments.
Both India and the EU are likely to announce a conclusion of trade talks on January 27.
India finalised a free trade agreement with the UK, its 16th so far as the country aimed at boosting bilateral trade and investments. The other regions and countries with which India has signed such agreements include the four-nation European bloc EFTA, Japan, Korea and Australia.
Replacing over a third of India's oil imports at competitive rates is going to be a challenge, said traders from State refiners, even though some progress was made in the last two months.
The proposed trade deal with the 27-nation European Union (EU) is expected to provide zero-duty access to the $95 billion European market for Indian textile and apparel manufacturers. Currently, India's share of the European market is just 6 per cent, or $5.5 billion.
The Congress MP said he had been "troubled" by the US tariff regime from the very beginning, adding that India was already at a disadvantage compared to its regional competitors.
US President Donald Trump has said the trade deal with India is not finalised, as he stressed that India imposes more tariffs than almost any other country.
Trump also praised Chinese President as "a great leader of a great country" and said the two sides had "already agreed to a lot of things."
Gor also announced that India will be a member of the Pax Silica alliance.
India and the US will sit together in the next couple of weeks to decide on the nature of the proposed trade agreement and finalise its broad contours, a senior official said on Monday. During the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, India and the US announced to more than double the two-way commerce to $500 billion by 2030 and negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector bilateral trade agreement (BTA) by fall of 2025.
From labelling India the 'Tariff King' to slapping sweeping import duties, US President Donald Trump has steadily hardened his trade stance on India. These announcements are being seen as a pressure tactic to get New Delhi to agree to demands made by the US in the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
A group in Varanasi organized an 'India-Russia Friendship March' to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his visit to India for the annual summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The march highlighted the strong ties between the two nations and expressed hope for strengthened cooperation and global peace.
A 500 per cent tariff would effectively shut out India's goods and services exports to the US.
Putin's State visit will centre on fixing the huge India-Russia trade imbalance, with both sides pushing to lower duties, ease non-tariff barriers, and seal a landmark mobility pact to send more Indian workers to Russia.
Senior officials from India and China's foreign ministries met in Beijing to discuss bilateral ties following a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi.
India on Thursday signed a free trade agreement, officially dubbed as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), with the UK - its 16th trade pact so far - as the country aims to boost bilateral trade and investments.
India and Canada solidify their partnership with a landmark uranium supply agreement and discussions to finalise a comprehensive economic partnership, signaling stronger ties and cooperation on key global issues.
'The West Asia or the Gulf crisis has shown that what we develop as national infrastructure when things are not as bad as they could be, we forget to plan for adversities.'
The statement suggests that Canadian authorities do not see ongoing foreign interference or violent activity tied to India at present.
Among Sensex firms, State Bank of India, Bharat Electronics, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti, Trent and UltraTech Cement were the major gainers. However, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, ITC and Tata Steel were among the laggards.
Among major engagements in 2026 is the visit of the European Union leadership, chief guests at the Republic Day parade.
India and the United States on Wednesday agreed to fast-track technical negotiations for early conclusion of a Bilateral Investment Agreement during a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
Relations with India experienced a downturn during Yunus's tenure, while ties with Pakistan saw positive developments.
India and the UK will sign a free trade agreement on Thursday in London that will allow export of labour-intensive products such as leather, footwear and clothing at concessional rates, while making imports of whisky and cars from Britain cheaper. The pact also helps double trade between the two economies to $120 billion by 2030.
India has strongly criticized the US and EU for their 'unjustified and unreasonable' targeting of New Delhi for its procurement of Russian crude oil, pointing out their own continued trade relations with Russia.
After recording negative growth for two consecutive months, India's merchandise exports to the US rose 22.61 per cent to $6.98 billion in November despite steep 50 per cent tariffs on domestic goods, according to commerce ministry data. Imports during the month grew 38.29 per cent to $5.25 billion, the data showed.
India and Russia have agreed to encourage joint manufacturing of military hardware and spare parts in India, aiming to improve maintenance of Russian-origin defence equipment and boost overall bilateral defence cooperation.
Trump said California has been particularly "hard hit" because of this, blaming democrat Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, for this loss, calling him "weak and incompetent."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Israel for two days to discuss bilateral and regional issues, marking his second visit to the Jewish state and highlighting the growing strategic partnership between India and Israel.
The rupee plunged 38 paise to close at an all-time low of 90.32 against the US dollar on Thursday amid uncertainty over the India-US trade deal. Forex traders said the rupee is expected to trade with a negative bias as the delay in the trade deal between India and the US may continue to dent investor confidence.
The US remained India's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25 with bilateral trade valued at $131.84 billion, while the country's trade deficit with China widened to $99.2 billion during the same period, government data showed. In the last fiscal, India's exports to China contracted 14.5 per cent to $14.25 billion as against $16.66 billion in 2023-24. The imports, however, rose by 11.52 per cent in 2024-25 to $113.45 billion against $101.73 billion in 2023-24.
India and the visiting US officials have decided to hold a wrap-up session on Saturday morning to conclude the three-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement, government sources said. They said the discussions are at a "very" early stage.
