WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department of Scott Bescent said Wednesday it hopes India will attack the first bilateral trade agreement to avoid Trump’s “mutual” tariff lawsuit.
Bescent told a roundtable of around 12 reporters that it was “very close” to reaching a successful conclusion of trade talks with India, as the world’s most populous country doesn’t have “so many high tariffs.”
India also “has few non-tariff trade barriers, obviously no currency manipulation and few government subsidies, making it much easier to reach Indian trade,” Bescent said at the bystander event at the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund Conference.
Vice President JD Vance and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have released a roadmap to advance trade talks to avoid the possibility of a 26% tariff rate coming into effect in early July.
Trump has called for other countries to break their tariff and non-tariff barriers to American goods and eliminate the US trade deficit.
India accounts for almost 3% of imports to the US as of February. According to Census Bureau data. The US had a trade deficit of $45.7 billion with India in 2024, according to the US Trade Representative.
Bescent also said on Wednesday that China’s trade negotiations were not underway. 145% topping Imports from Beijing are not feasible.
“Neither side believes these are at a sustainable level, so we wouldn’t be surprised if they fell on each other,” the Treasury Secretary told reporters.
“As I said yesterday, this amounts to an embargo, and the break between the two countries in trade is not anyone’s interest. I think the Chinese trade minister called it a joke,” Bescent added. “They must have a different sense of humor than we do because I don’t think this is funny.
Bessent also said the talks continue to focus on the top 15 US trading partners other than China, a list that includes China, South Korea, Vietnam and the UK.
The Japanese delegation left Washington last week and announced a final deal to avoid the country’s 24% rate, but later this month announced plans for a second round of discussion.
Trump’s massive new “mutual” obligation went into effect on April 9th, but was suspended several hours later to allow 90-day negotiations. The president effectively left a new 10% baseline tariff on most imports.
