{"id":28704,"date":"2026-03-13T16:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=28704"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:52:18","slug":"india-to-hold-off-on-us-trade-deal-amid-new-probe-sources","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/india-to-hold-off-on-us-trade-deal-amid-new-probe-sources\/","title":{"rendered":"India to hold off on US trade deal amid new probe: Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"
New Delhi had initially expected to sign an interim deal in March, followed by a full deal later, after Trump agreed in early February to cut punishing US tariffs on Indian imports in return for commitments including halting Russian oil imports, lowering duties on US goods and pledging to buy $500 billion worth of American products. That \u200btimeline could now slip by several months, the sources said, although US officials say they expect India to honour its commitments. The Indian sources, all \u200bgovernment officials with direct knowledge of the matter or briefed on it, declined to be named because they were not authorised \u2060to speak to media.<\/div>\n
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A Spokesperson from India’s trade ministry denied any hold off in bilateral engagement. “It is reiterated that the two sides remain engaged for a mutually beneficial \u200btrade agreement,” the Spokesperson added, without offering details on formal signing of the deal. A White House official said the US was continuing to work with India on finalising \u200ba deal. Negotiations lost momentum after the US Supreme Court in late February struck down Trump\u2019s tariffs, the Indian government sources said, adding that there have been no substantive talks since, particularly as Washington has been preoccupied with the war on Iran. India never halted Russian oil purchases, only slowed them, and US officials are now urging New Delhi to increase buying to help ease a global energy crunch \u200btriggered by the conflict. Complicating matters is a new U.S. investigation into what it calls \u201cstructural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors\u201d in 16 trading partners, including India.<\/div>\n
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“We are \u200bnot in a hurry to sign any deal,” said one of the sources. “The new investigation is a pressure tactic to force countries into signing deals after the court order. It’s a spanner \u200cin the \u2060works.”<\/div>\n
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India would instead largely take a \u201cwait and watch\u201d approach as US tariff policy evolves, the source said, noting that Trump dropped a 25% punitive tariff on India after saying New Delhi had agreed to curb Russian crude imports, while India only said it would diversify its supply base. The overall tariff on India was 50% earlier, among the highest in the world. The latest probe has been launched under Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974. India plans to present its case to the \u200bOffice of the US Trade Representative \u200bif permitted, or await a ruling \u2060before considering options such as approaching the World Trade Organisation, the source said.<\/div>\n
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–Reuters–<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":24209,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-28704","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"India will hold off on signing a trade deal with the United \u200bStates (US) for several months, four Indian sources said, as fresh investigations by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration into what it calls excess industrial capacity \u200camong trading partners add new friction after an early understanding last month","published_date":"2026-03-13 00:00:00","news_description":"India will hold off on signing a trade deal with the United \u200bStates (US) for several months, four Indian sources said, as fresh investigations by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration into what it calls excess industrial capacity \u200camong trading partners add new friction after an early understanding last month","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28705,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28704\/revisions\/28705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=28704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}