India seeks trade deal better than Vietnam as U.S. envoy visits

India used Jamieson Greer’s visit to New Delhi to press for something more valuable than a standard tariff cut: a trade deal that left its exporters better positioned than Vietnam and other ASEAN rivals in the contest for U.S. market access. The talks, tied to the U.S.-India Joint Statement and an Interim Agreement, sat inside broader negotiations for a Bilateral Trade Agreement that could reshape trade in goods, services, supply chains and digital commerce.

Narendra Modi and Donald Trump last met face to face at the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, on June 17, their first such encounter since February 2025. Trump said the two countries were working on trade deals and called Modi a tough negotiator, while Modi later said there had been significant progress. The diplomatic atmosphere remained strained, however, after the deaths of three Indian sailors in attacks on commercial ships in the Gulf and continuing friction over tariffs, Russian oil purchases and security around the Strait of Hormuz.

India has been pressing for a pact before July 24, when Washington’s temporary 10% tariff on trading partners expires, and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal has said he would be happy if the deal were completed by then. A February framework had already sketched the contours of a bargain: tariffs on Indian-origin goods were set at 18%, down from 50%, while India signaled it could buy $500 billion of U.S. goods over five years. That framework also covered non-tariff barriers, rules of origin, agriculture, industrial goods and digital trade, areas where Washington has long sought market-opening gains.

The timing matters because Washington is also tightening the screws elsewhere. On June 2, the U.S. Trade Representative said 60 economies were covered by Section 301 findings tied to goods produced with forced labor, with proposed extra duties of 10% or 12.5% depending on each economy’s enforcement regime. India is among the economies discussed in that broader action, adding another layer of pressure to a negotiation that is no longer just about tariffs. For New Delhi, the goal is preferential access ahead of regional rivals; for Washington, the prize is a deal that can be sold as fair, balanced and reciprocal. If the two sides can bridge those gaps, the agreement could become one of the year’s most consequential commercial arrangements. If they cannot, tariff and investigative pressure could harden into a larger trade standoff.