India's trade minister set to meet USTR Greer amid US tariff threats

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is slated to arrive in the United States late Monday and engage in a bilateral discussion with USTR Jamieson Greer during the G20 Trade Ministerial in Wisconsin. The meeting is timed with heightened US pressure, including a law that could let President Donald Trump levy up to a 100% tariff on India’s Russian oil imports and an ongoing Section 301 probe alleging excess capacity in Indian manufacturing.

The USTR has already imposed a 10% additional tariff on Indian products after a separate Section 301 inquiry cited forced-labour issues, and both forced labour and excess capacity are on the G20 agenda. Federation of Indian Export Organisations director general Ajay Sahai says Indian officials will stress that Russian oil purchases are essential for energy security and that domestic production aligns with economic growth.

Goyal has previously said the bilateral trade agreement is “almost done and dusted,” awaiting a US-designed mechanism to grant India a tariff advantage. Both sides continue negotiations after earlier proposals were stalled by a US Supreme Court decision that removed the legal basis for a reciprocal tariff.