India, US committed to sealing bilateral trade agreement: Commerce Secretary
New Delhi, Aug 13 (IANS) India is in regular touch with the United States over talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), with both sides committed to the terms of the framework deal that was agreed upon in February, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal said on Thursday.
“Our sense is both sides are completely committed to move ahead and finalise the framework that was agreed in February, and the two countries are in regular contact on the issue,” Agarwal told journalists.
“We are engaged with the US side on the trade deal and our contacts are regular,” he added.
While the two countries had made headway with the first phase of the BTA in February, fresh developments in the US with new tariff issues cropping up have created uncertainty.
India’s exports currently face an additional 10 per cent duty under a Section 301 investigation examining alleged forced labour concerns in the US.
The US Senate has also passed the sanctions bill, which grants President Donald Trump the authority to levy tariffs of up to 100 per cent on goods exported by top buyers of Russian oil, including India. Western countries see these oil imports helping Russia finance its war against Ukraine. India’s imports of crude from Russia have risen and accounted for more than half of the country’s total oil imports during July.
On this, the Commerce Secretary said: “It is a legislative process of the US, which is underway and is their internal process.”
However, he refused to get drawn into a further discussion on the matter.
India has diversified its sources for the import of crude oil to 41 countries compared with 27 earlier, following the outbreak of the Iran war and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas exports transit during normal times.
Similarly, India has also diversified its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from six countries earlier to a total of 15 countries in order to secure its energy supplies. The US now accounts for a major chunk of these LNG imports.
India imports over 85 per cent of its crude oil requirement, which makes it crucial for the country to ensure supply chain resilience and access to multiple sources of energy in order to reduce the risk of sudden disruptions during a period of geopolitical uncertainty in which the global energy market has turned highly volatile.
–IANS
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