India trade minister to meet U.S. officials in Washington amid tariff tensions

India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal will visit Washington on September 22 to accelerate talks on a long-pending trade deal, following recent progress in negotiations resumed last week.

“The delegation plans to take forward the discussions with a view to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement,” an official statement said on Saturday.

On September 16, a U.S. delegation led by Brendan Lynch, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, met Indian trade officials headed by Chief Negotiator Rajesh Agrawal in New Delhi.

Trade discussions with U.S. officials on Tuesday were “positive” and “forward-looking”, New Delhi said, after U.S. President Donald Trump struck a more conciliatory tone following punitive tariffs on India over its Russian oil purchases.

But it was not immediately clear whether New Delhi would discuss the Trump administration’s H1B visa fee hike and the demand to cut Russian oil purchases, or open its agriculture and dairy sector for U.S. companies, a major demand from Washington.

The Trump administration on Friday issued an executive order requiring companies to pay a $100,000 per year fee for an H1B visa, set to take effect from Saturday midnight, in a move that India said would hit its huge IT services industry.

Trump last month imposed a 25 percent punitive levy on Indian imports from August 27, doubling overall tariffs to 50 percent, as part of Washington’s pressure campaign on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

A planned U.S. delegation visit to New Delhi from August 25-29 was cancelled after talks stalled, with India resisting U.S. demands to open its vast farm and dairy markets.

India’s exports to the U.S. fell to $6.86 billion in August from $8.01 billion in July, trade ministry data showed on Monday.

Exporters have warned the full impact of higher tariffs would be felt from September, once the new duties took effect.