NEW DELHI, April 23. /TASS/. India is a "tough nut to crack" in the context of negotiations on signing an Indo-US trade agreement, the latest round of which concluded on April 22 in Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said.
"India is a tough nut to crack. They [its representatives] have protected their agricultural markets for a very long time. As part of this deal, they want to protect a lot of that. There are things, though, where I think we can find mutual agreement," the Press Trust of India quoted Greer as saying in his address to members of the US Congress.
Earlier, Indian media reported that the parties had achieved steady progress during the latest round of talks in Washington on signing a bilateral trade agreement. During the consultations, the delegations of India and the United States focused primarily on resolving differences ahead of the signing of the agreement. India sought preferential access for its goods to the American market compared to competing countries, while also seeking to protect its own agricultural market from US shipments of genetically modified corn and other products that Washington insists upon.
The two countries have been negotiating a comprehensive trade agreement since February 2025, which envisages doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.The United States imposed additional 25% tariffs on India on August 6, 2025, in connection with its purchase of Russian oil and petroleum products. At the end of August, US duties on imports of Indian goods and services were raised to 50%. In February of this year, the United States announced a reduction of reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods from 25% to 18%. Washington also announced the cancellation of the 25% duties imposed due to India's purchase of Russian oil. To date, India and the United States have completed work on the first part of the trade deal. The provisions contained in it were to be transformed into a legal document, which both sides had previously planned to sign in March.