Overview

• The Global Trade Research Initiative labels politically driven interim agreements with the US as “MASALA deals” that demand tariff cuts without reciprocal concessions.
• GTRI cautions that hasty pacts risk irreversible harm to core sectors like agriculture and may be overturned after future US political shifts.
• Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh echoed the warning, urging negotiators to avoid leveraged arm-twisting that compromises national interests.
• The US has applied 25% tariffs on Japanese and South Korean imports and threatened 30% duties on EU and Mexican goods to pressure trading partners.
• An Indian trade delegation is set to travel to Washington soon to advance talks on a provisional Bilateral Trade Agreement under heightened scrutiny.