Key Points
Brendan Lynch to visit India from March 25-29
Focus on advancing US-India trade relations
Visit follows Piyush Goyal's US trade talks
Aims to double bilateral trade by 2030
As per the US Embassy spokesperson, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, along with a team of U.S. government officials, will be in India from March 25-29 for meetings with Indian interlocutors as part of ongoing bilateral trade discussions.
His visit reflects the United States' continued commitment to advancing a productive and balanced trade relationship with India.
"We value our ongoing engagement with the Government of India on trade and investment matters and look forward to continuing these discussions in a constructive, equitable, and forward-looking manner", the spokesperson noted.
As per the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), Brendan Lynch oversees the development and implementation of America's trade policy with regard to 15 countries in the region.
This includes the management of the US-India Trade Policy Forum (TPF) as well as coordination of activity under Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFAs) with regional partners.
Previously, Lynch was the Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia and managed negotiations in the region across sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, services, and intellectual property rights. Notably, before this role, he was USTR's Director for India, where he managed the bilateral trade relationship with India.
His visit to India comes days after Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was in the US for trade talks.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal had said that he had a "forward looking" discussion with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement. His visit to the US followed US President Donald Trump and PM Modi's plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by the fall of 2025.The two leaders had committed to designating senior representatives to advance these negotiations.
During the recent meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two leaders resolved to expand trade and investment to make their citizens more prosperous, nations stronger, economies more innovative, and supply chains more resilient.
They resolved to deepen the US-India trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation. To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade - "Mission 500" - aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030.
