India and the US reached a consensus in February this year to launch the first phase of trade agreement negotiations with the goal of increasing bilateral trade to US$500 billion by 2030.

India hopes to speed up negotiations on a trade agreement with the US after US President Donald Trump decided to suspend reciprocal tariffs on several countries and impose higher import duties on Chinese goods.

Last week, India’s commerce minister said at an event in New Delhi that manufacturers in both India and the US have been hit by China’s unfair trade practices for years. He said India would step up checks on imported products to identify dumping, including those from China.