Top US trade official Katherine Tai will travel to India on a two-day visit from November 22 for talks with her Indian counterpart commerce minister Piyush Goyal, it was announced on Wednesday after the two officials met virtually and reaffirmed their commitment to expanding the bilateral trade relationship.
Tai’s visit will be the first substantive attempt by the Biden administration to address compounding trade tensions between the two sides marked by an exchange of punitive measures and tariffs during the Trump administration. The effort comes at a time trade volumes have surged.
India exported $46.2 billion worth of goods to the US in the eight months from January to August this year, according to US government statistics, compared to $51.2 billion for all of 2020 and $57.8 billion for 2019.
The US Trade Representative’s office said Tai and Goyal at their virtual meeting “agreed to take a comprehensive look at ways to expand the bilateral trade relationship and ensure the future success of the US-India Trade Policy Forum (TPF)’