India-Us is looking for a breakthrough in one-day trade negotiations

Anahita SachdevBBC News, Delhi

India and the United States are holding a day of commercial negotiations, aroused the hope that negotiations at neutral on a bilateral agreement will soon be resumed.
A team led by American commercial negotiator Brendan Lynch is in Delhi to meet officials from the Indian Ministry of Commerce.
India said that the meeting does not mark the start of the next series of negotiations, describing it as a “discussion” on “to try to see” how an agreement can be concluded.
Negotiations on a trade agreement were blocked after the US President Trump imposed a 50% rate on Indian products, partly as a penalty for the purchase by Delhi of Russian oil and weapons. India defended its decision, citing inner energy needs and qualified “unjust” prices.
The high functions, as well as strong criticisms of India by Trump and its main managers, have led to a rapid and surprising deterioration of the links between the allies.
India is a large exporter of goods, including clothing, shrimp and jewels and jewelry in the United States, and prices have already had an impact on production and livelihoods.
Tuesday’s meeting between Indian and American officials is therefore closely monitored.
“It is not an official series of negotiations, but it will certainly be a discussion on commercial talks and how we can reach an agreement between India and the United States,” local media said on Monday before Mr. Lynch’s visit.
A series of negotiations that should occur last month were canceled after Trump’s pricing announcement and India’s refusal to stop buying Russian oil.
But in recent days, hopes have increased – Trump administration officials seemed more conciliatory and India confirmed that discussions were still underway.
On Monday, the American sales advisor Peter Navarro told CNBC News: “India arrives at the table. We will see how it works.”
Navarro was one of India’s most vocal criticism, calling for the Russian Prime Minister Narendra “Moda’s War”.
In the CNBC interview, Navarro also referred to last week’s social media exchange between Trump and Modi.
Trump said the United States and India “pursued negotiations to face the trade barriers” between the two countries. In response, Modi echoes the optimism of the American president and said that the two countries were “close friends and natural partners”.
Sergio Gor, Trump’s candidate to be the next American ambassador to India, also said that the trade agreement “would be resolved in the coming weeks.”
“We are not so far away at the moment.
But it still remains to be seen how the countries resolve key disagreements which had previously prevented a trade agreement from materializing.
Agriculture and dairy products, in particular, are key snack points.
For years, Washington has put pressure on better access to the agricultural sector in India, considering it as a major unexploited market. But India has fiercely protected it, citing food security, livelihoods and interests of millions of small farmers.
Last week, the American secretary for trade Howard Lutnick repeated his previous criticism of the ferocious guarantees of India, asking why a country of 1.4 billion people would not buy a bushel of American corn “.
But Indian experts argued that Delhi should not give in to pressure to open his agricultural market, keeping in mind national sovereignty and food security.
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