New Delhi, Nov. 18 -- Commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal on Monday said the first phase of India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) is now "near closure" and the two sides are connected through "virtual" means to initially resolve New Delhi's concern over 50% reciprocal tariff on Indian goods, and Washington's ask for greater market access. Negotiating a comprehensive BTA may take time as it could have "multiple tranches", and both sides are making endeavours to finalise the first tranche, which will involve reciprocal tariff, he said. He, however, declined to give any timeline. "We don't have a deadline," he said. India and the US have so far completed six rounds of talks. According to a joint statement issued in February, the two sides wished to finalise the first tranche of the deal by November 2025. The proposed BTA aims to more than double the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. While India and the US were intensely engaged on BTA negotiations since March, the US levied country-specific reciprocal tariffs on multiple nations in August citing trade deficit and oil purchase from Russia. The unexpected development enlarged the scope of talks-resolving issues pertaining to reciprocal tariff while negotiating a mutually-beneficial BTA, another official said, requesting not to be named. The US in early August imposed 25% reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods in its market to mitigate its trade deficit with India, and from August 27, it imposed another 25% tariff on Indian products for buying Russian crude oil. While Indian refiners have significantly reduced Russian crude purchase, India's state-run oil companies have signed the first long-term contract with the US to import 2.2 million tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), one of the ways to address the trade deficit issue. Speaking about the LPG contract, the official said that while the deal is not part of the BTA negotiation, it would certainly help in balancing India-US trade. "It was something in the works for a long," he said. State-run Indian oil companies concluded a one-year contract to import LPG from the US Gulf Coast in 2026, which is about 10% of India's annual LPG imports. India's key LPG suppliers include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The US is India's largest trading partner with $131.84 billion bilateral trade in 2024-25. In the year, India exported goods worth $86.51 billion and imported merchandise worth $45.33 billion, having a trade surplus of over $41 billion....