New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) Following is the chronology of the developments that lead to the announcement of India-US trade agreement.

February, 13, 2025: A joint statement stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump agreed to deepen the US-India trade relationship. To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal to more than double bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030 from the current over USD 191 billion.

They announced plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall of 2025.

March 4-6: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal visits Washington DC. Holds bilateral meetings with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

April 2, 2025: US President Donald Trump announced an additional import duty of 26 per cent (10 per cent baseline tariff and 16 per cent reciprocal tariff) on Indian goods.

April 9, 2025: The US suspends the 26 per cent reciprocal tariff on Indian goods for 90 days (until July 9, 2025).

April 23-29, 2025: Then Indian chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal (now Commerce Secretary) visits Washington for the first in-person meeting with US counterparts for a proposed trade pact. They discussed terms of references covering 19 chapters, including tariffs, non-tariff barriers and customs facilitation.

May 17-20, 2025: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal visited Washington and met USTR Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

June 4-10, 2025: A US delegation, led by the Additional US Trade Representative Brendan Lynch, visits India for week-long discussions. Talks cover market access, digital trade, customs facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, and the legal framework.

June 26, 2025: An Indian delegation, led by Agarwal, again visited Washington for the next round of talks to bridge differences before the July 9 deadline.

June 27, 2025: US President Donald Trump said America is going to have a "very big" trade deal with India.

July 31, 2025: The US announced a 25 per cent duty to be effective from August 7, 2025 (9.30 am IST).

Aug 6, 2025: Trump slapped an additional 25 per cent tariff on goods coming from India as penalty for New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil. After this order, the total tariff on Indian goods, barring a small exemption list, rose to 50 per cent. To be effective from August 27, 2025.

Sep 16, 2025: Officials from the office of United States Trade Representative held discussions in India on various aspects of the trade deal, and it was decided to intensify efforts in this regard.

Sep 22, 2025: Goyal visited New York for trade talks. He was accompanied by Agrawal.

Oct 15-17, 2025: Indian team in Washington for talks.

Till now formal six rounds of talks have been held.

Dec 10, 2025: A delegation led by Deputy US Trade Representative (USTR) Rick Switzer in the national capital for two-day trade talks with his Indian counterpart Rajesh Agrawal.

Jan 12, 2026: US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor asserted that both sides are actively engaged to firm up a trade deal.

Jan 31, 2026: When asked about the progress of the 'father of all deals', Goyal said India is working towards closing it with the US "quickly", as good negotiations are happening.

Feb 2, 2026: India and the US agreed on a trade deal under which Washington will bring down the reciprocal tariff on Indian goods to 18 per cent from current 25 per cent, US President Donald Trump said on Monday after a phone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIA US TRADE PACT: During Trump's first term as the US president (2017-2021) also, India and the US were discussing a mini-trade deal, but it did not materialise.

The proposed deal was discussed during multiple-round of talks during July 2018 and September 2019, but no agreement was finalised due to differences on issues like agriculture, digital taxes, and tariffs.

After that, the Biden administration (Jan 2021 till Jan 2025) did not show interest in negotiating a free trade agreement. PTI RR DR DR