New Delhi: India and the United States have mutually decided to postpone a crucial three-day meeting of chief trade negotiators, originally slated to begin Monday in Washington, to finalize the text of their interim trade agreement, Commerce Ministry sources said Sunday.
India’s delegation, led by Joint Secretary Darpan Jain from the Commerce Ministry, was set to depart for the US on February 23. However, both sides agreed to reschedule following a landmark US Supreme Court ruling. “The proposed visit of the Indian chief negotiator and team be scheduled after each side has had time to assess the latest developments and their implications. The meeting will reconvene at a mutually convenient date,” the sources stated.
The postponement comes amid turmoil in Trump’s trade agenda during his second term. In a major rebuff, the US Supreme Court ruled the president’s sweeping import tariffs on global partners illegal, holding that he exceeded authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977. The court struck down levies imposed via emergency declarations, dealing a blow to Trump’s protectionist push.
Responding swiftly, President Donald Trump announced a 10 per cent tariff on all countries, including India, with effect from February 24 for 150 days. He hiked it to 15 per cent on Saturday – a levy atop the existing Most Favoured Nation (MFN) or standard import duties. For example, a product with 5 per cent MFN duty now faces an additional 15 per cent, pushing the effective rate to 20 per cent, up from the prior 5 plus 25 per cent structure.
This disrupts a fragile India-US framework agreed earlier this month, under which Washington had slashed tariffs from 50 per cent (25 per cent reciprocal plus 25 per cent for India’s Russian crude purchases in August 2025) to 18 per cent. The punitive 25 per cent reciprocal tariff was lifted, but the oil-related levy lingered until these hikes.
