A visit to India by US Vice-President J.D. Vance this week has raised hopes in New Delhi of progress towards a long-awaited trade agreement that could help avert looming American import tariffs.
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Although Vance’s four-day trip is officially personal – he arrived in Delhi on Monday with his Indian-origin wife Usha and their three children – he is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval during his stay.
Harsh Pant, professor of international relations at King’s College London, said Vance’s emergence as the most visible face of US foreign policy under President Donald Trump made the visit particularly important, adding that India was likely to use the opportunity to signal it was “serious in progressing towards a trade deal with the US”.
A trade deal between India and the United States could significantly enhance economic ties between the two countries and potentially strengthen diplomatic ties.
The US is India’s largest trading partner and their two-way bilateral trade reached US$129 billion in 2024, with a US$45.7 billion surplus in favour of India, US government trade data show, according to a Reuters report on Monday.
In early April, the US imposed a 26 per cent tariff on Indian imports, part of a broader strategy targeting countries with significant trade surpluses with the US. However, Trump later announced a 90-day suspension of these additional tariffs for most countries, including India, reducing the rate to a baseline 10 per cent until July 9.