TARIFFS: Optimism For US-India Trade Deal As US Delegation Preps Delhi Trip

The Press Trust of India reports that a US trade delegation is likely to visit New Delhi next week for talks with Indian counterparts. The trip is the latest sign that negotiators could be close to completing the first tranche of a trade deal by year end, understood to include the relaxation of tariffs.   

• The news comes as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosts Russian President Vladimir Putin for a two-day visit - his first since the start of the Ukraine war - aimed at deepening commercial and political ties. 
• CNN notes, “This is India’s diplomatic split screen. On one side: the potential purchase of advanced Russian fighter jets, cheap oil, and an ironclad friendship forged in the Cold War. On the other: American collaboration on technology, trade and investment – and the hope President Donald Trump will lift his punishing tariffs.”
• Putin told IndiaToday a short time ago that energy cooperation with India shouldn’t be affected by “fleeting political swings." Putin noted that, despite US tariffs aimed at curbing India-Russia energy purchaes, “trade in petroleum products, crude oil, petroleum products for consumers of oil, Russian oil, running smoothly in India,” per Reuters.
• Despite outward cooperation on energy, ING noted that “India’s crude oil imports from Russia have declined meaningfully, while imports from the U.S. have surged, signaling a deliberate diversification of supplier,” adding,  “We see a high probability of an India-U.S. trade deal emerging in 2026…”