New Delhi, April 6 -- In the India-US Joint Statement of 13 February 2025, both sides set a target of $500 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. During the visit of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to New Delhi (26-29 March 2025), the two sides agreed to discuss a mutually beneficial, multi-sector bilateral trade agreement (BTA), with the goal of finalizing its first tranche by the fall of 2025.

This announcement came amid some perplexity among Indian policymakers and trade experts, who were busy trying to decipher exactly what US President Donald Trump meant by the "reciprocal tariffs" he had promised to levy. Most experts felt that since India had high tariffs compared to the US, product-specific tariffs in areas of American...