🔗 Share this article

The country and the United States are engaging in a day of discussions, sparking hope that halted negotiations on a mutual pact will soon resume.

A team led by a American commerce representative is in Delhi to engage officials from India's commerce ministry.

The Indian side said that the meeting does not indicate the start of the following session of talks, characterizing it as a "conversation" about "trying to see" how an agreement can be reached.

Negotiations on a economic arrangement had stalled after the US President enforced hefty levies on Indian goods, partly as a penalty for India’s acquisition of imports from Russia. India has defended its choice, citing local power demands, and labeled the tariffs "inequitable".

The large levies, along with strong criticism of India by the US President and senior administration figures, have led to a rapid and surprising deterioration in connections between the allies.

India is a major supplier of goods, including clothing, shrimp and precious stones and jewelry to the United States, and the tariffs have already affected output and livelihoods.

So the day’s discussions between Indian and US officials is being closely watched.

"This is not an official round of negotiations but it will undoubtedly be a discussion on the trade talks and on working to understand how we can finalize an agreement between both countries," the head of the Indian delegation told national news outlets.

A session of negotiations was called off last month following the levy introduction and India's decision to stop buying Russian oil.

But over the last several days, hopes have grown – American government officials have appeared more conciliatory, and the Indian side has stated that the negotiations are still on.

On the previous day, a United States representative stated: "The nation is engaging. We will see how this proceeds."

In a recent social media exchange between the American leader and the nation’s leader, the US leader said that the US and India were "moving forward with discussions to address the obstacles" between them. Answering, the Prime Minister reiterated the positive outlook and said the two countries were "trusted partners and logical companions."

A nominee for the next US ambassador to the nation also remarked that the trade deal "is likely to conclude in the next weeks".

"We are not that disagreeing right now on the agreement. In fact, they're working on the fine points of the deal," he said during a senate session last week.

But it is yet to be seen how the governments resolve major disagreements that had earlier hindered a economic pact from being finalized.

Agriculture and dairy, in particular, are major challenges.

For a long time, American officials has advocated increased entry to the nation’s agricultural industry, seeing it as a significant unexplored market. But The nation has strongly defended it, citing national food supplies, livelihoods and the interests of millions of local agriculturists.

Last week, a American trade official repeated his earlier comments of the nation’s rigorous defenses, asking why a country of over a billion citizens wouldn't "acquire one unit of corn from the United States".

But local analysts have argued that Delhi shouldn't succumb to pressure to liberalize its farming industry, keeping national sovereignty and crop supplies in mind.