This week, while negotiating a trade agreement with Washington, Indian trade officials will look for comparative advantage over other nations.
On Monday, a group headed by lead negotiator Darpan Jain arrived in the US on a three-day visit to finalise the initial stages of a trade agreement negotiated in February. Before President Donald Trump's broad reciprocal tariffs were overturned by the US Supreme Court, the two countries came to an arrangement. On February 24, his administration levied a new 10% tariff on all countries.
As part of the agreement, New Delhi promised to purchase $500 billion worth of American goods over a five-year period, and US tariffs on Indian imports were to be reduced from 50% to 18%.Piyush Goyal, the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry, stated on Monday that although the initial part of the agreement has been completed, work is being done to guarantee that India will have better access to the US market than rivals.
After delaying a travel to Washington in February to complete the temporary agreement, this is the first trip by Indian negotiators. The first phase of a comprehensive bilateral trade deal was to be signed by the two parties in March.
The investigation that the US Trade Representative launched against nations like India due to worries about forced labour and excess production capacity will also be discussed by officials in Washington.

The accusations have been refuted by New Delhi, which has requested that Washington end the investigations and deal with the matter through continuing trade talks rather than unilateral actions.
Both sides will "sit together and discuss how these issues need to be structured and addressed," according to Indian Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal's statement from last week. Officials will also finalise timelines and the next steps in the bilateral talks.
After the trade deficit shrank in March due to the disruption of shipments to and from the Middle East caused by the Iran war, New Delhi is eager to increase exports.