India and Pakistan near strategic standoff

India and Pakistan near strategic standoff after Pahalgam attack in Kashmir

By Abid Hussain AJ 24 Apr 2025

Tensions have escalated between the two nuclear powers following Tuesday’s attack on tourists by separatists in Indian-administered Kashmir.

In a communique issued following a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), Pakistan’s top civil-military decision-making body, Pakistan has warned India that any disruption of its water supply would be considered “an act of war”, adding that it was prepared to respond, “with full force across the complete spectrum of national power”.

The NSC meeting, which took place on Thursday in Islamabad, was led by Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, alongside other government officials and chiefs of its military forces.

The NSC statement mirrored actions announced by India on Wednesday, and included the closure of the Wagah Border Post with “immediate effect”, the suspension and cancellation of SAARC visas for Indian nationals (excluding Sikh pilgrims), the designation of Indian defence advisors as personae non grata in Pakistan, a reduction in the staff of the Indian High Commission, the closure of Pakistani airspace to Indian airlines, and the suspension of all trade with India.

The moves follow India’s response to Tuesday’s attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, which resulted in the deaths of at least 26 people.

Following a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian government announced a series of measures, including the suspension of its part in the 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty, a pact that allows both countries to irrigate their agricultural lands.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan threatened to suspend its participation in all bilateral agreements with India, including the 1972 Simla Agreement, on Thursday in a retaliatory move after India said it would suspend its own participation in the Indus Water Treaty and close the land border the day before.

The Simla Agreement was a peace accord signed by the two countries a few months after Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan.

In a media conference, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri also announced the closure of the border with Pakistan, slashed the number of Indian diplomatic staff in Pakistan, ordered Pakistani citizens under the SAARC scheme to leave the country within 48 hours, and expelled Pakistani military attaches posted in India. This response has been soundly interpreted as India blaming Pakistan for the attack in Kashmir.

The Himalayan territory of Kashmir has been a flashpoint between the two countries since they gained independence from British rule in 1947, with each country controlling parts of Kashmir but claiming it in full. Since independence, the nuclear-armed neighbours have fought four wars, three of them over Kashmir.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who also serves as deputy prime minister, called the Indian steps “immature and hasty” in a television interview on Wednesday night, .

“India has not given any evidence [of Pakistani involvement in the attack].” They have not shown any maturity in their response. This is not a serious approach. They started creating hype immediately after the incident,” said Dar, who also serves as deputy prime minister.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also rejected India’s implication of Pakistani involvement in the attack.

“India’s allegation against Pakistan for the Pahalgam incident is inappropriate. There should be no ambiguity that we strongly condemn terrorism,” Asif said.

What is the Indus Waters Treaty?

Signed in 1960, the origins of the IWT trace back to August 1947, when British colonial rule over the Indian subcontinent ended and India and Pakistan became two separate sovereign states. India is the upper riparian (located upstream) while Pakistan is the lower riparian, which means India has control over how the river flows.

Because both countries rely on the water from the Indus basin’s six rivers for irrigation and agriculture, they signed an agreement called the Standstill Agreement to continue allowing the flow of water across the border. When the Standstill Agreement expired in 1948, India stopped the water flow towards Pakistan from its canals, prompting an urgent need for negotiations on water sharing.

Following nine years of negotiations mediated by the World Bank, former Pakistani President Ayub Khan and former Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru signed the IWT [PDF] in September 1960. The treaty gives India access to the waters of the three eastern rivers: the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.

Pakistan, in turn, gets the waters of the three western rivers: the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.

India can use the western rivers to generate hydroelectric power and for some limited agriculture, but cannot build infrastructure that restricts the flow of water from those rivers into Pakistan or redirects that water.

What would the suspension of this treaty mean for Pakistan?

It represents a threat from India that it could, if and when it chooses to, restrict the flow of water from the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab into Pakistan.

It does not mean that India plans to limit that flow immediately.

Even if it wanted to, it is unlikely that India could immediately stop the flow of water even though it has suspended its participation from the treaty.

This is because India has upstream reservoirs constructed on the western rivers, but their storage capacity cannot hold enough volumes of water to hold back water entirely from Pakistan. It is also high-flow season when ice from glaciers melts between May and September, keeping water levels high.

“The western rivers allocated to Pakistan carry very high flows, especially between May and September. India does not currently have the infrastructure in place to store or divert those flows at scale,” Hassaan F Khan, assistant professor of urban and environmental policy and environmental studies at Tufts University in the United States, told Al Jazeera.

However, if India were to try to stop – or cut – the water flow, Pakistan might feel the effects in seasons when water levels are lower. Pakistan relies heavily on the water from the western rivers for its agriculture and energy. Pakistan does not have alternative sources of water.

Pakistan has a largely agrarian economy, with agriculture contributing 24 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 37.4 percent to employment, according to Pakistan’s most recent economic survey published in 2024. The country’s statistics bureau says that the majority of the population is directly or indirectly dependent on the agriculture sector. According to the World Bank, the country’s current population is about 247.5 million.

Does India have the power to suspend this treaty?

While India has declared abeyance from the treaty, legal experts say that it cannot unilaterally suspend the treaty.

“India has used the word abeyance and there is no such provision to ‘hold it in abeyance’ in the treaty,” Ahmer Bilal Soofi, a Pakistani lawyer, told Al Jazeera. The treaty can only be modified by mutual agreement between the parties.

“It also violates customary international laws relating to upper and lower riparian where the upper riparian cannot stop the water promise for lower riparian,” Soofi said.

Anuttama Banerji, a political analyst based in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera that the treaty might continue, but not in its present form. “Instead, it will be up for ‘revision’, ‘review’ and ‘modification’ – all three meaning different things – considering newer challenges such as groundwater depletion and climate change were not catered for in the original treaty,” Banerji said.

“In principle, a unilateral suspension of a bilateral treaty can be challenged as a breach of international law,” Khan, the Tufts University assistant professor, told Al Jazeera.

However, the enforcement of this is complicated, Khan added. “The Indus Waters Treaty is a bilateral agreement without a designated enforcement body. While the World Bank has a role in appointing neutral experts and arbitrators, it is not an enforcement authority.”

Khan explained that if Pakistan wanted to pursue legal recourse, it would likely be through international forums such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ). “In practice, the main costs for India would be reputational and strategic: undermining its image as a rules-based actor, especially given its own status as a downstream riparian on other transboundary rivers.”

Khan said that the broader strategic goal of the IWT suspension seems to be a renegotiation of the treaty. “India has been signalling its desire to revise or renegotiate the treaty for some time,” he said, explaining that India had asked to renegotiate the treaty in January 2023 and again in September 2024, citing climate change and implementation challenges. Pakistan has so far refused.

“The recent announcement appears to be an attempt to apply pressure and force a renegotiation on terms more favourable to India. Whether this strategy succeeds remains to be seen, but it marks a significant departure from six decades of treaty stability.”

What other steps is India taking in response to the attack in Kashmir?

Besides the abeyance of the IWT, Mirsi announced other steps, 

Including:

• The main land border crossing between the two countries, the Integrated Check Post Attari, or the Attari-Wagah crossing, will be closed with immediate effect and those who have crossed over with “valid endorsements” have to return through the route before May 1.
• Any SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) visas granted to Pakistanis have been cancelled and any Pakistani currently visiting India on the SVES visa has to leave within 48 hours of the statement issued on Wednesday.
• The military, naval and air advisers in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi are considered personae non gratae and have a week to leave India, while Indian military, naval and air advisers will be pulled back from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. To be persona non grata in a country means to be unwelcome.
• Five support staff members will also be pulled from each High Commission.
• The staffing for each High Commission will be reduced from 55 members to 30 through further reductions by May 1.

Pakistan announces countermeasures against India

By Xinhua

Published: Apr 25, 2025

    

India's move targeting Pakistan following a shooting incident in the Indian-controlled Kashmir was "highly irresponsible and legally unfounded," and Pakistan will adopt a series of countermeasures against India, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Thursday.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a high-level meeting of the National Security Committee on Thursday, the statement said. The committee expressed concern over the loss of tourists' lives in the incident, and Pakistan unequivocally condemns all kinds of terrorism.

In the absence of any credible investigation and verifiable evidence, India's attempts to link the attack with Pakistan are "reckless, irrational and illogical," it said.

In response, Pakistan will close down the Wagah Border Post, suspend certain visa facilities for Indian nationals, declare the Indian Defence, Naval and Air Advisors in Islamabad persona non grata, close Pakistan's airspace for all Indian airlines, and suspend all trade activities with India, the statement said.

Indian media said that at least 25 people were killed and several others wounded on Tuesday after unknown gunmen fired at them in the Indian-controlled Kashmir.

India has accused Pakistan of involvement in the attack.

On Wednesday, the Indian government announced several measures against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, border closure, and the expulsion of Pakistani personnel.

India's Ministry of External Affairs announced on Thursday that it would suspend all categories of visas for Pakistani nationals starting immediately, and advised Indian citizens against traveling to Pakistan, according to Indian media.

Source: Media, With  ENB Addition 

India downgrades ties with Pakistan

Makkah Region Deputy Governor Prince Saud bin Mishal bin Abdulaziz accompanies India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he cuts his two-day trip short to Saudi Arabia, following a suspected militant attack near south Kashmir's Pahalgam, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, April 22, 2025. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS

India downgrades ties with Pakistan after attack on Kashmir tourists kills 26

By Fayaz Bukhari, Sakshi Dayal and YP Rajesh April 23, 2025

• Summary

• India, Pakistan ties deteriorate further after New Delhi announcement
• India suspends key water sharing treaty, closes only land border crossing
• India cancels special visas, further downgrades diplomatic missions
• Pakistan PM calls meeting Thursday to discuss response
• Kashmir attack worst on civilians in India since 2008 Mumbai shootings

SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI, April 23 (Reuters) - India announced a raft of measures to downgrade its ties with Pakistan on Wednesday, a day after suspected militants killed 26 men at a tourist destination in Kashmir in the worst attack on civilians in the country in nearly two decades.

Diplomatic ties between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours were weak even before the latest measures were announced as Pakistan had expelled India's envoy and not posted its own ambassador in New Delhi after India revoked the special status of Kashmir in 2019.

Pakistan had also halted its main train service to India and banned Indian films, seeking to exert diplomatic pressure.

Tuesday's attack is seen as a setback to what Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have projected as a major achievement in revoking the semi-autonomous status Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed and bringing peace and development to the long-troubled Muslim-majority region.

On Wednesday, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told a media briefing that the cross-border involvement in the Kashmir attack was underscored at a special security cabinet meeting, prompting it to act against Pakistan.

He said New Delhi would immediately suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty "until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism."

The treaty, mediated by the World Bank, split the Indus River and its tributaries between the neighbours and regulated the sharing of water. It had so far withstood even wars between the neighbours.

Pakistan is heavily dependent on water flowing downstream from this river system from Indian Kashmir for its hydropower and irrigation needs. Suspending the treaty would allow India to deny Pakistan its share of the waters.

India also closed the only open land border crossing point between the two countries and said that those who have crossed into India can return through the point before May 1.

With no direct flights operating between the two countries, the move severs all transport links between them.

Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under special South Asian visas, all such existing visas were cancelled and Pakistanis in India under such visas had 48 hours to leave, Misri said.

All defence advisors in the Pakistani mission in New Delhi were declared persona non grata and given a week to leave. India will pull out its own defence advisors in Pakistan and also reduce staff size at its mission in Islamabad to 30 from 55, Misri said.

"The CCS reviewed the overall security situation and directed all forces to maintain high vigil," Misri, the most senior diplomat in the foreign ministry, said referring to the security cabinet.

"It resolved that the perpetrators of the attack will be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account...India will be unrelenting in the pursuit of those who have committed acts of terror, or conspired to make them possible," he said.

There was no immediate response to the Indian announcement from Pakistan's Foreign Office.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the National Security Committee on Thursday morning to respond to the Indian government’s statement, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar posted on X.

Chart shows the number of tourists visiting Kashmir region annually between 2015 and 2024. There was as surge in the footfall in the past three years, peaking at 3.5 million in 2024.

TOURIST BOOM

, opens new tabIndia's response came a day after the attack in the Baisaran Valley in the Pahalgam area of the scenic, Himalayan federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The region has been at the heart of India-Pakistan animosity for decades and the site of multiple wars, insurgency and diplomatic standoffs.

The dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national and at least 17 people were also injured in the shooting that took place on Tuesday.

It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings, and shattered the relative calm in Kashmir, where tourism has boomed as an anti-India insurgency, opens new tab has waned in recent years.

A little-known militant group, the "Kashmir Resistance," claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. It expressed discontent that more than 85,000 "outsiders" had been settled in the region, spurring a "demographic change".

Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, is a front for Pakistan-based militant organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.

Pakistan denies accusations that it supports militant violence in Kashmir and says it only provides moral, political and diplomatic support to the insurgency there.

"We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said in a statement earlier on Wednesday. "We extend our condolences to the near ones of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery."

Chart shows the number of civilians and security forces killed in the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, India, from 2000 to 2024.

SETBACK TO MODI

In Kashmir, security forces rushed to the Pahalgam area and began combing the forests there in search of the attackers.

Police also released sketches of three of the four suspected attackers, who were dressed in traditional long shirts and loose trousers and one of them was wearing a bodycam, one security source said.

There were about 1,000 tourists and about 300 local service providers and workers in the valley when the attack took place, he said.

On Wednesday, the federal territory shut down in protest against the attack on tourists, whose rising numbers have helped the local economy.

Protesters turned out in several locations shouting slogans such as "Stop killing innocents", "Tourists are our lives", "It is an attack on us."

"I want to say to the people of the country that we are ashamed, Kashmir is ashamed," former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said. "We are standing with you in this time of crisis."

Airlines were operating extra flights through Wednesday from Srinagar, the summer capital of the territory, as visitors were rushing out of the region, officials said.

Militant violence has afflicted Kashmir, claimed in full but ruled in part by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan, since the anti-Indian insurgency began in 1989. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, although violence has tapered off in recent years.

Reporting by Fayaz Bukhari; Additional reporting by YP Rajesh, Sakshi Dayal, Nigam Prusty and Surbhi Misra in New Delhi, Sudipto Ganguly and Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai, and Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad; Writing by YP Rajesh; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Sharon Singleton, Aidan Lewis and Diane Craft

Exclusive: US-China fentanyl talks

U.S. President Donald Trump displays a presidential public health emergency declaration on the nation's opioid crisis in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 26, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

Exclusive: US-China fentanyl talks hang by thread amid trade war

By Michael Martina - Reuters-April 23, 2025

Summary

• Counter narcotics talks continue despite trade tensions
• Trump wants China to punish sellers of fentanyl precursors
• China demands end to ‘unjustified’ tariffs for cooperation
• Trump team says Chinese offers so far are in ‘bad faith’

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - Talks continue between the U.S. and China on tackling the fentanyl epidemic amid the bitter trade war between the world’s two largest economies, four U.S. officials familiar with the discussions told Reuters, even as American negotiators claim the Chinese are failing to negotiate in good faith.

The two sides are exchanging intelligence about traffickers and communicate frequently. But Beijing’s proposals to help resolve the crisis thus far are inadequate, the people said, testing the patience of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pursued a more confrontational stance with China on drugs than did his predecessor Joe Biden.

Washington says Chinese chemical manufacturers and exporters provide the majority of precursor chemicals used by drug cartels to produce synthetic opioids, the cause of nearly 450,000 U.S. overdose deaths. China has long defended its tough drug laws and record of cracking down on smugglers, and says America must get a handle on its own addiction woes.

“The abuse of fentanyl in the United States is a problem that must be confronted and resolved by the United States itself,” Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told Reuters.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has engaged in direct talks with Chinese counterparts, mostly between the top staff at the Chinese embassy in Washington and the U.S. National Security Council, the four U.S. officials said. Staff at the U.S. embassy in Beijing have also been involved.

Trump negotiators have conveyed his desire for swift action by Chinese authorities to prosecute and convict China-based producers and sellers of precursors feeding the fentanyl trade, the U.S. officials said. China, in turn, has offered to regulate additional fentanyl precursor chemicals beyond those it already controls, a proposal the Americans say falls well short of what they’re looking for.

"Talk is cheap," one of the U.S. officials said, adding the two sides were largely "at an impasse."

In response to questions from Reuters about the counternarcotics talks, an administration official said the U.S. might consider additional punitive measures to compel China to take meaningful action on fentanyl precursors, including sanctions on Chinese banks. “Nothing is off the table,” the person said.

Reuters reporters last year purchased 6.6 kilos of precursors and pill-making equipment online from Chinese sellers who openly market to the illegal drugs trade as part of a multi-part investigation into fentanyl's secretive global supply chain. As part of that series, “Fentanyl Express,” reporters detailed U.S.-China counternarcotics talks held during the Biden administration, negotiations that failed to wrest major concessions from Beijing, and previewed a more antagonistic approach planned by the second Trump administration.

Among Trump’s first moves was imposing tariffs now totaling 20% on Chinese imports over Beijing’s alleged failure to stem the flow of fentanyl precursors to drug cartels. Other rounds of tariffs in the president’s trade war have slapped baseline duties of 145% or higher on many Chinese goods, levels China has cautioned would undermine talks on counternarcotics.

"If (the U.S.) truly wants to address the fentanyl problem, it needs to revoke the unjustified tariffs, engage in equal consultation with China, and seek mutually beneficial cooperation," said Liu, the Chinese embassy spokesman.

Beijing in the past has suspended dialogue on drugs when angered by Washington, doing so after a 2022 visit to Taiwan by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Biden got those talks back on track, and negotiations have continued under Trump.

'BAD FAITH'

Since returning to the White House, Trump has named the opioid crisis as one of his top foreign policy priorities. He has designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Some Canadian and Mexican goods have also been slapped with so-called fentanyl tariffs. But Trump has reserved particular vitriol for China, accusing Beijing of "actively sustaining and expanding the business of poisoning our citizens, opens new tab."

Biden’s measured approach in engaging Beijing yielded some small wins but no dramatic breakthrough, something Trump’s team views as a failure. They see tariffs as a tool for compelling Chinese cooperation, despite China’s warnings to the contrary.

Following Trump’s initial tariffs over fentanyl, China offered to schedule two precursor chemicals: 4-Piperidone and 1-boc-4-piperidone.

That concession was easy for Beijing to make, the U.S. officials said, because China was already obligated to do so.

That’s because those chemicals were placed under international control in 2024 by the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs. China is a member of that commission, and thus bound to regulate those precursors. Work on scheduling them is underway, according to a March report by the Chinese government on its fentanyl-control efforts.

Trump negotiators were underwhelmed. The Chinese offering “to do something that they've already agreed to, it's essentially negotiating in bad faith," a second U.S. official said.

Since Trump escalated the tariffs in recent weeks, Beijing has made additional proposals to schedule several more precursors, the U.S. officials said, an offer the Americans still deem insufficient.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement after Reuters published this article that it was "obvious to everyone who has goodwill and who has ill intentions," and that the U.S. approach will “seriously undermine China-U.S. counternarcotics dialogue and cooperation.”

During Trump’s first term, China did take some steps to constrict the synthetic opioid pipeline. At the time, most fentanyl sold on U.S. streets was made in China. In 2019, Beijing placed fentanyl and its analogs under national control, effectively ending illicit exports of the finished product. But Chinese chemical companies quickly pivoted to supplying ingredients to the Mexican cartels that took over production, U.S. authorities say.

What the Trump team wants now is for China to crack down on Chinese chemical manufacturers and sellers catering to that illicit trade. Many market their wares openly online. Beijing has failed to make such prosecutions a priority, one of the U.S. officials said, despite evidence and leads supplied by the American side.

“Start putting big, important people behind bars as a signal to the whole industry or black market," the first official said. "We just haven't seen that."

The Biden administration, too, pressed China to require its chemical sector to vet customers and better monitor where their exports are going.

But China has resisted out of concern that too much regulation would hamper the growth of its powerful chemical industry. Many chemicals used to make synthetic opioids also have legitimate uses. Tsang Wai-hung, an official with China's National Narcotics Control Commission, last year told Reuters that it’s the responsibility of importing countries – not Chinese chemical companies – to investigate sketchy buyers suspected of purchasing legal precursors to manufacture fentanyl.

Tsang directed questions to China’s Ministry of Public Security, which oversees the National Narcotics Control Commission. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

China last year said it had targeted internet advertising related to fentanyl and its precursors, shuttering more than a dozen online platforms and hundreds of stores.

But recent Reuters interviews with more than 50 fentanyl users in Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, and Columbus, Ohio, showed the drug remains plentiful and cheap.

A third U.S. official warned that Trump could resort to more tariffs if he felt that China was dragging its feet.

Liu, the Chinese embassy spokesman, said his country won’t sit idly by.

“China never accepts power politics or hegemony,” Liu said. “If the United States insists on applying pressure and even goes down the path of extortion, China will surely take resolute countermeasures.”🔺

Reporting by Michael Martina in Washington; Additional reporting by Antoni Slodkowski in Beijing; Editing by Marla Dickerson

Ukraine defiant on U.S. pressure

Ukraine defiant on U.S. pressure as Trump accuses Zelensky of ‘boasting’

A woman walks Tuesday near an apartment building hit by a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Reuters)

Ukraine is insisting on a full ceasefire in order to negotiate with Russia, as U.S. officials — hoping for a quick solution — backed out of London talks.

The Washington Post April 23, 2025 

By Siobhán O'Grady, Steve Hendrix and Adam Taylor

KYIV — President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance insisted Wednesday that Ukraine needed to make concessions to ensure peace, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to push back and demand that Russia must accept a full ceasefire before negotiations.

Trump accused Zelensky on Wednesday of “boasting” after the Ukrainian leader told reporters the day before that Kyiv will never recognize Crimea as Russian territory. “He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE.”

Trump’s post came shortly after Vance warned that the White House could walk away from its own peace deal if progress is not made soon.

Zelensky responded in a late-evening message that there were “many emotions” throughout the day but said that Ukraine was grateful for its partners. The Ukrainian leader added that he hoped the United States would comply with its past decisions, sharing a link to the declaration made by the first Trump administration that refused to recognize Russian sovereignty of Crimea.

The 2018 declaration, made by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, called the Crimean Peninsula a “territory seized by force in contravention of international law.”

U.S. officials presented a proposal last week that apparently included leaving Russia with 20 percent of the Ukrainian land it now occupies, while also denying Ukraine NATO membership and security guarantees. Washington has also proposed U.S. recognition of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea as well as the eventual lifting of sanctions on Moscow. Trump wrote Wednesday that despite Zelensky’s comments, Washington is not asking Ukraine to recognize Crimea as Russian.

Washington’s growing rift with Kyiv over its refusal to accept talk of territorial concessions without an initial truce played out publicly earlier Wednesday, as European officials, set to meet a high-level Ukrainian delegation in London, had to downgrade the talks after top U.S. officials abruptly canceled plans to attend.

After his delegation arrived in London, Zelensky doubled down on the need for a full ceasefire, pointing to a Russian drone attack that struck a bus of factory workers in the country’s Dnipropetrovsk region, killing nine people and wounding dozens of others.

“We in Ukraine insist on an immediate, full, and unconditional ceasefire,” Zelensky announced Wednesday. “We are also ready for an immediate ceasefire at least for civilian targets and have already stated this. This should be a shared first priority with all partners — saving lives.”

His comments demonstrate a growing willingness in Kyiv to push back on U.S. pressure for a deal at any cost, especially after months of anxiety in Ukraine after Trump and Vance’s dressing down of Zelensky in the Oval Office spurred brief military aid and intelligence cuts. Talk of an immediate ceasefire has ramped up after several major Russian attacks on civilians, including one that hit a playground and another that struck civilians on Palm Sunday.

Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who has been overseeing the minerals deal Trump is seeking to ink with Ukraine, also wrote an unusually strongly worded message on X on Wednesday, declaring that “Ukraine is ready to negotiate — but not to surrender.”

“There will be no agreement that hands Russia the stronger foundations it needs to regroup and return with greater violence. A full ceasefire — on land, in the air, and at sea — is the necessary first step. If Russia opts for a limited pause, Ukraine will respond in kind,” she wrote.

She also said Ukraine will never recognize Russian occupation of Crimea and will require “binding security guarantees” if NATO denies Ukraine membership.

Lower-level talks took place Wednesday in London, but “the foreign minister-level meeting isn’t happening,” said a diplomat familiar with the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations after Secretary 0f State Marco Rubio canceled and the other foreign ministers followed suit.

Rubio had been scheduled to fly to London on Tuesday night. Steve Witkoff, a special envoy and close ally of Trump’s who is central to White House efforts to broker an end to the war, also dropped out. Witkoff will travel to Moscow for meetings on Friday, according to a person familiar with his schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the envoy’s plans.

The State Department played down the significance of Rubio’s last-minute decision to skip the London meeting, made just hours before he was scheduled to take off.

“Secretary Rubio is a busy man,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Tuesday. “While the meetings in London are still occurring, he will not be attending, but that is not a statement regarding the meetings. It’s a statement about logistical issues in his schedule.”

The meetings in London were attended by retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for the Ukraine war. Kellogg wrote on social media that talks had been “positive” and that it was time to “move forward” on Trump’s directive to end the war. “Stop the killing, achieve peace, and put America First,” Kellogg wrote.

Vance, traveling in India on Wednesday, repeated warnings that the U.S. would walk away from its efforts to broker a peace accord if Moscow and Kyiv didn’t reach an agreement soon.

“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process,” he told reporters in Agra while visiting the Taj Mahal. “We’re going to see if the Europeans, the Russians and the Ukrainians are ultimately able to get this thing over the finish line.”

He said the proposal would freeze the current battle lines where they are today while a long-term diplomatic settlement was achieved. Both sides would have to give up some territory they currently control, Vance said.

The Russians, watching from the sidelines, said the collapse of the London talks showed how far apart Ukrainian and American officials remain on the basic contours of a peace deal.

“As far as we understand, it has not yet been possible to reconcile positions on some issues, which is why this meeting has not taken place yet,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. “We continue our contacts with the Americans. We have no contacts with the Europeans; we have no contacts with the Ukrainians, either, although President [Vladimir] Putin remains open to such contacts in the interest of reconciliation.”

Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, Andrii Yurash, called for high-level talks to resume in Rome this weekend, when Zelensky, Trump and other leaders are expected to attend the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday.

“Any number of meetings at various levels is entirely possible,” Yurash said during a television appearance in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s hopes for progress on a viable ceasefire ahead of any concessions are grounded in the unrelenting Russian attacks on the country.

In addition to the drone attack that killed the factory workers Wednesday, Russia attacked energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Kherson region, said the head of the region’s military administration, Oleksandr Prokudin. He also called on local residents to limit their use of electricity as workers rushed to try to repair damage from the strikes.

The prospects of a ceasefire felt even more distant early Thursday local time, as Russia launched a large-scale air attack on Kyiv. Air raid sirens blared, then gunfire and explosions echoed throughout the city center as troops tried to shoot down missiles and drones overhead.

Hendrix reported from London and Taylor from Washington. Natalie Allison in Agra, India, and Serhiy Morgunov in Potsdam, Germany, contributed to this report.🔺

Pope Francis obituary

Pope Francis obituary: a pontiff who shook up the Catholic Church

By Philip Pullella - Reuters April 21, 2025

Summary

• Inherited a deeply divided Church after Benedict XVI's resignation in 2013
• Appointed 80% of cardinal electors, increasing chances of a progressive successor
• Struggled to restore credibility amid clergy sexual abuse scandals
• Sought to make Church more inclusive, championed the poor

VATICAN CITY, April 21 (Reuters) - Pope Francis changed the face of the modern papacy more than any predecessor by shunning much of its pomp and privilege, but his attempts to make the Catholic Church more inclusive and less judgmental made him an enemy to conservatives nostalgic for a traditional past.

The Vatican said on Monday in a video statement that he had died.

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Francis inherited a deeply divided Church after the resignation in 2013 of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. The conservative-progressive gap became a chasm after Francis, from Argentina, was elected the first non-European pope in 1,300 years.

The polarization was fiercest in the United States, where conservative Catholicism often blended with well-financed right-wing politics and media outlets.

For nearly a decade until Benedict's death in 2022, there were two men wearing white in the Vatican, causing much confusion among the faithful and leading to calls for written norms on the role of retired popes.

The intensity of conservative animosity to the pope was laid bare in January 2023 when it emerged that the late Australian Cardinal George Pell, a towering figure in the conservative movement and a Benedict ally, was the author of an anonymous memo in 2022 that condemned Francis' papacy as a "catastrophe".

The memo amounted to a conservative manifesto of the qualities conservatives will want in the next pope.

Francis appointed nearly 80% of the cardinal electors who will choose the next pope, increasing, but not guaranteeing, the possibility that his successor will continue his progressive policies. Some Vatican experts have predicted a more moderate, less divisive successor.

Under his watch, an overhauled Vatican constitution allowed any baptised lay Catholic, including women, to head most departments in the Catholic Church's central administration.

He put more women in senior Vatican roles than any previous pope but not as many as progressives wanted.

Francis was 76 when he was elected to the post and his health was generally good for most of his papacy. He recovered well from intestinal surgery in 2021 but a year later a nagging knee problem forced him to slow down. He was never keen on exercise and the restriction of a wheelchair and a cane led to a visible increase in his weight.

His inability to help bring an end to the war in Ukraine was a great disappointment. From the day of Russia's invasion in February 2022, he made appeals for peace at nearly every public appearance, at least twice a week.

The conflict brought relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church to a new low in 2022 when Francis said its Patriarch Kirill, who supported the conflict, should not act like "Putin's Altar Boy".

He made frequent appeals for the release of hostages taken by Hamas militants but increased criticism of Israel's military campaign in Gaza ahead of the January 2025 ceasefire agreement in the Israel-Hamas war that erupted in October 2023.

BESIEGED BY CONSERVATIVES

Conservatives were unhappy with the pope from the start because of his informal style, his aversion to pomp and his decision to allow women and Muslims to take part in a Holy Thursday ritual that previously had been restricted to Catholic men.

They balked at his calls for the Church to be more welcoming to LGBT people, his approval of conditional blessings for same-sex couples in December 2023 and his repeated clampdowns on the use of the traditional Latin Mass. He said conservatives had made themselves self-referential and wanted to encase Catholicism in a "suit of armour".

Their spiritual gurus were Pell and U.S. Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, who once famously compared the Church under Francis to "a ship without a rudder".

In 2016 and in 2023, Burke and a handful of other cardinals lodged public challenges known as "Dubia" (doubts), accusing Francis of sowing confusion on moral themes, once threatening to issue a public "correction" themselves.

They spoke at conferences where participants openly referred to Francis as the precursor of the Antichrist and the end of the world.

"I don't feel like judging them," the pope told Reuters in 2018. "I pray to the Lord that He settles their hearts and even mine."

But a year after Benedict's death, Francis lost his patience with conservative ringleaders, stripping Burke, who was rarely in Rome, of his Vatican privileges, including a subsidized apartment and a salary.

Burke's punishment came days after Francis dismissed Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, another of his fiercest critics among U.S. Catholic conservatives, after Strickland refused to step down following a Vatican investigation.

Conservatives were also rattled by his decision to declare capital punishment inadmissible in all cases, his frequent attacks on the arms industry, and his calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

But liberals were deeply disappointed in 2020 when Francis dismissed a proposal to allow some married men to be ordained in remote areas, such as in the Amazon, opens new tab.

SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDALS

Francis' papacy was also marked by his struggle to restore credibility to a Church rattled to its core by clergy sexual abuse scandals, even though the overwhelming part of the crimes took place before his election.

Francis summoned almost 200 Church leaders to a summit in February 2019 on child sex abuse by the clergy, issued a landmark decree making bishops directly accountable for sexual abuse or covering it up, and abolished "pontifical secrecy" for abuse cases. Victims' groups said this was too little, too late.

The COVID-19 crisis forced him to cancel all trips in 2020 and to hold virtual general audiences, depriving him of the contact with people that he thrived on.

But he also said the pandemic offered a chance for a great reset, to narrow the gap between rich and poor nations. "We can either exit from this pandemic better than before, or worse," he said often. He criticized "vaccine nationalism," saying poor countries should be given priority.

On March 27, 2020, when the whole world was in various forms of lockdowns and death tolls spiralled, he held a dramatic, solitary prayer service in St. Peter's Square, urging everyone to see the crisis as a test of solidarity and a reminder of basic values.

Francis moved to clean up the Curia, the staid central administration of the Roman Catholic Church that was held responsible for many of the missteps and scandals that marred Pope Benedict's eight-year pontificate.

Despite massive improvements compared to the past papacies, financial scandals still plagued the Vatican during Francis' pontificate.

In 2020, he took drastic action by firing Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who was accused of embezzlement and nepotism and was also enmeshed in a scandal involving the Vatican's purchase of a luxury building in London. Becciu has denied any wrongdoing.

On July 3, 2021, Becciu was among 10 people sent to trial in the Vatican charged with financial crimes including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud, extortion and abuse of office. In December 2023 Becciu was found guilty on several counts of embezzlement and fraud and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail. He and others convicted are free pending appeal.

Francis brought the Catholic Church's dialogue with Islam to new heights in 2019 by becoming the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula, but conservatives attacked him as a "heretic" for signing a joint document on inter-religious fraternity with Muslim leaders.

A trip to Iraq in March 2021, the first ever by a pope, aimed to solidify better relations with Islam while also paying tribute to the Christians whose two millennia-old communities were devastated by wars and Islamic State.

FROM BUENOS AIRES TO THE VATICAN

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on December 17, 1936 into a family of Italian immigrants who had settled in Buenos Aires.

He attended a technical high school and worked for a while as a chemical technician at a food laboratory. After he decided to become a priest, he studied at the diocesan seminary and in 1958 entered the Jesuit religious order.

At about that time, when he was 21, he caught pneumonia and had to have the top part of one lung removed because of cysts.

While still in the seminary, his vocation was thrown into crisis when he was "dazzled" by a young woman he met at a family wedding. But he stuck to his plans and after studies in Argentina, Spain and Chile, he was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1969, rapidly rising to head the order in Argentina.

That coincided with the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, during which up to 30,000 suspected leftists were kidnapped and killed.

The Vatican has denied accusations by some critics in Argentina that Francis stayed silent during the human rights abuses or that he failed to protect two priests who challenged the dictatorship.

As archbishop of Buenos Aires from 2001-2013, he clashed frequently with the Argentine government, saying it needed to pay more attention to social needs.

A SIMPLE START

Francis endeared himself to millions with his simplicity when he spoke minutes after his election as pope on March 13, 2013.

"Brothers and sisters, good evening," were his first words from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, departing from the traditional salutation "Praised be Jesus Christ!".

The first pope from Latin America and the first Jesuit to hold the post, Francis was also the first in six centuries to take over the Church after the resignation of a pope.

He took the name Francis in honour of Francis of Assisi, the saint associated with peace, concern for the poor, and respect for the environment.

In that first appearance, the new pope shunned the crimson, fur-trimmed "mozzetta", or cape, and also did not wear a gold cross but kept around his neck the same faded silver-plated one he used as archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Gone too were the plush red "shoes of the fisherman" used by his predecessors. He kept the same simple black shoes he always used and wore $20 plastic watches, giving some away so they could be auctioned off for charity.

In his first meeting with journalists three days later, Francis said: "How I would like a Church that is poor and for the poor."

MODEST LIVING

Inside the tiny city-state, where some cardinals lived like princes in frescoed apartments, Francis renounced the spacious papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace and never moved out of the Vatican hotel where he and the other cardinals who entered the conclave of 2013 were billeted in simple rooms.

The Santa Marta residence, a modern building with a common dining room, became the nerve centre of the more than 1.3 billion-member Roman Catholic Church.

"It (the decision to stay in Santa Marta) saved my life," he told Reuters in an interview in 2018, explaining that apartments used by his predecessors were like a "funnel" isolating inhabitants.

The bulletproof papal limousine was dispatched to the Vatican Museums and Francis took to being driven around Rome in a blue Ford Focus with no security features.

His first trip outside Rome was to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa to pay tribute to the thousands of migrants who had drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe and a better life.

"In this globalised world we have fallen into the globalisation of indifference. We have become used to the suffering of others. It doesn't regard us. It doesn't interest us. It's not our business," he said.

A TERRIBLE YEAR

The year 2018 was Francis' "annus horribilis" - chiefly because of the simmering crisis around Church sex abuse.

It began with a trip to Chile in January, where at first he strongly defended a bishop who had been accused of covering up sexual abuse, testily telling reporters that there was "not a single piece of evidence against him".

His comments were widely criticised by victims, their advocates and in newspaper editorials throughout Latin America.

Even key papal adviser Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston distanced himself, saying the pope had caused "great pain". Francis later apologised, saying his choice of words and tone of voice had "wounded many".

Soon after he returned, he sent the Church's top sexual abuse investigator to Chile.

The subsequent report by Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta accused Chile's bishops of "grave negligence" for decades in investigating the allegations and said evidence of sex crimes had been destroyed.

That May, all of Chile's 34 bishops offered their resignations en masse. The pope accepted seven resignations over the next few months. He later defrocked the two other bishops and the priest at the centre of the abuse scandal.

Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., stepped down as cardinal over sexual misconduct accusations in July and in August the U.S. Catholic Church was rocked by a grand jury report in Pennsylvania that detailed 70 years of abuse.

"With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives. We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them," Francis wrote in a letter to all Catholics on August 20, 2018.

Still, the topic of sexual abuse dominated his trip to Ireland in August 2018, during which a conservative Italian archbishop took advantage of the media's presence to issue an unprecedented broadside demanding that the pope resign over the McCarrick affair.

Francis defrocked McCarrick in February 2019, making him the highest-profile Church figure to be dismissed from the priesthood in modern times.

An institutional report on McCarrick in 2020 showed that Francis' two predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, knew about rumours of his sexual misconduct but promoted him or failed to discipline him anyway.

WORLDWIDE PRESTIGE

Francis enjoyed considerable prestige internationally, both for his calls for social justice as well as for risky political overtures.

He made more than 45 international trips including the first by any pope to Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Myanmar, North Macedonia, Bahrain and Mongolia.

In 2014, secret contacts mediated by the Vatican resulted in a rapprochement between the long-hostile United States and Cuba.

In 2018, he led the Vatican to a landmark deal on the appointment of bishops in China, which conservatives criticized as a sell-out by the Church to Beijing's communist government.

Under his watch, the Vatican and the United Nations teamed up to hold international conferences on climate change and in June 2015 he issued an encyclical in which he demanded "action now" to save the planet.

In the 2018 interview with Reuters, he said then U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement had pained him "because the future of humanity is at stake". The pope and Trump were at odds over many issues, mostly immigration.

Throughout his pontificate, Francis spoke out for the rights of refugees and criticised countries that shunned migrants.

He visited the Greek island of Lesbos and brought a dozen refugees to Italy on his plane, and asked Church institutions to work to stop human trafficking and modern slavery.

He ordered his charity arm to help the homeless in the neighbourhood around the Vatican, opening a shelter and a place for them to have baths and haircuts and see foot doctors. He gave the homeless a private tour of the Sistine Chapel.

During a trip to Sicily in 2018, he appealed to "brothers and sisters of the Mafia" to repent, saying the island needed "men and women of love, not men and women 'of honour,'" using the term mobsters apply to themselves.

After a wave of Islamist militant attacks in France in 2015-2016, including the killing of an elderly priest who was saying Mass, the pope called on all religions to declare that killing in God's name was "Satanic".

THE FRANCIS EFFECT

Although his style was not welcomed by all members of the Church hierarchy, some of whom had become accustomed to the luxury of stately mansions and palaces, the "Francis Effect" began trickling down the ranks.

His desire to connect extended to telephone calls. He became known as the "cold call pope" for phoning people unannounced, usually after they had written to him about a problem or he had heard that they had been touched by tragedy.

"This is Francis," were the words incredulous people heard on the other end of the line. "Really, this is Pope Francis."

He also sought more openness with journalists. On one freewheeling encounter on the way back from Brazil in 2013, the pope, responding to a question about gay priests, offered an answer that made world headlines.

"If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?"

The comment did not mark a change in Church teaching that calls homosexual acts sinful, but it became emblematic of his preference for mercy over condemnation.

A CHURCH FOR THE POOR

From the start, Francis sent clear signals to priests and bishops about the type of Church he wanted.

He said there was no room for "careerists or social climbers" among the clergy, told cardinals they should not live "like princes," and said the Church should not "dissect theology" in lush salons while there were poor people around the corner.

"If investments in banks fall, it is a tragedy and people say 'what are we going to do?' but if people die of hunger, have nothing to eat or suffer from poor health, that's nothing. This is our crisis today. A Church that is poor and for the poor has to fight this mentality," he said early in his papacy.

Even as pope, Francis remained an ardent fan of the Buenos Aires San Lorenzo soccer team.

In the 2018 interview with Reuters, Francis said he did not miss Argentina. "I only miss the street. I am a 'callejero' (a man of the streets). I really would like to be able to do that again, but I can't now."🔺

Reporting by Philip Pullella and Joshua McElwee Editing by Frances Kerry

'Significant progress' in India-US trade deal

Modi, Vance welcome 'significant progress' in India-US trade deal

Subhayan Chakraborty New Delhi - business-standard.com/ Apr 21 2025

India and the United States have welcomed “significant progress” in ongoing negotiations for a mutually beneficial Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), the government said following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and American Vice President J D Vance in New Delhi on Monday.

 Visiting India amid a globally unfolding trade war, Vance held detailed discussions with Modi, reviewing and positively assessing the progress in various areas of bilateral cooperation, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.

 Both countries also noted continued efforts to enhance cooperation in areas such as energy, defence, strategic technologies, and other sectors, according to the PMO. The two leaders exchanged views on a range of regional and global issues of mutual interest, and called for dialogue and diplomacy as the preferred path forward.

 The Prime Minister conveyed greetings to US President Donald Trump, the PMO added, saying he looked forward to Trump’s visit to India later this year. The American president is expected to travel to India in September or October to attend the fifth Quad Leaders’ Summit.

 Both sides hope to conclude the first tranche of the BTA by the fall (September-October) this year. 

 Modi meets US Vice President Family in
New Delhi on Monday | Photo: PIB

India said the BTA would be centred on the “welfare of the people of the two countries”. The United States remains India’s largest export destination, with a trade surplus that widened to $41 billion in FY25, from $35 billion the previous year. While imports from the US grew 7.4 per cent to $45.3 billion, exports surged by 11 per cent to reach $86.5 billion -- a trade imbalance the Trump administration has frequently highlighted.

 Vance — accompanied by Second Lady Usha Vance and their children Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel — was hosted at the Prime Minister's residence. Earlier in the day, the family visited the Akshardham Temple in Delhi.

 Vance's first official visit to India coincides with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s five-day trip to the United States, where she will take part in the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, along with several key G20 meetings. Sitharaman is also scheduled to hold bilateral talks with her counterparts from countries, including Argentina, Bahrain, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

 Later this week, a team of commerce department officials, led by chief negotiator and commerce secretary-designate Rajesh Agarwal, will hold discussions with their US counterparts in Washington DC. The meetings, which are set to begin on April 23, will continue for three days.

 Vance arrived in New Delhi on Monday morning after a three-day official visit to Italy. The four-day trip to India is expected to deepen the India–US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. The US Vice President will travel to Jaipur on Tuesday, followed by a visit to Agra on Wednesday to see the Taj Mahal.

India-US proposed trade pact's terms of reference include 19 chapters

The terms of references (ToRs) finalised by India and the US for the proposed bilateral trade agreement include around 19 chapters covering issues such as goods, services, and customs facilitation, official sources said.

To give further impetus to the talks, an Indian official team is visiting Washington next week to iron out differences on certain issues before formally launching negotiations for the proposed India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA).

India's chief negotiator, Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal, will lead the team for the first in-person talks between the two countries.

Agrawal was appointed as the next commerce secretary on April 18. He will assume office from October 1.

India to send delegation to US next week for key bilateral trade talks

The three-day Indian official team's talks with the US counterparts in Washington will start from Wednesday (April 23), the official said.

The visit, which comes within weeks of a high-level US team visiting India, indicates that the talks for the BTA are gaining momentum.

The visit follows senior official-level talks held between the two countries last month here.

Brendan Lynch, the Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, was in India from March 25 to 29 for crucial trade discussions with Indian officials.

The two sides are keen to utilise the 90-day tariff pause, announced by US President Donald Trump on April 9.

On April 15, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal had stated that India will try to close the negotiations as quickly as possible with the US.

He also stated that India has decided to follow the trade liberalisation path with the US.

India and the US have been engaged in negotiating a bilateral trade agreement since March. Both sides have targeted to conclude the first phase of the pact by the fall (September-October) of this year, with an aim to more than double the bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030, from about USD 191 billion, currently.

In a trade pact, two countries either significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them. They also ease norms to promote trade in services and boost investments.

While the US is looking at duty concessions in sectors like certain industrial goods, automobiles (electric vehicles particularly), wines, petrochemical products, dairy, and agriculture items such as apples, tree nuts, and alfalfa hay; India may look at duty cuts for labour-intensive sectors like apparels, textiles, gems and jewellery, leather, plastics, chemicals, oil seeds, shrimp, and horticulture products.

From 2021-22 to 2024-25, the US was India's largest trading partner.

The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India's total goods exports, 6.22 per cent in imports, and 10.73 per cent in bilateral trade.

With America, India had a trade surplus (the difference between imports and exports) of USD 41.18 billion in goods in 2024-25. It was USD 35.32 billion in 2023-24, USD 27.7 billion in 2022-23, USD 32.85 billion in 2021-22 and USD 22.73 billion in 2020-21. The US has raised concerns over the widening trade deficit.

To address the gap and boost manufacturing, the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs on April 2, including 26 per cent on India. It was later suspended till July 9.

In 2024, India's main exports to the US included drug formulations and biologicals (USD 8.1 billion), telecom instruments (USD 6.5 billion), precious and semi-precious stones (USD 5.3 billion), petroleum products (USD 4.1 billion), gold and other precious metal jewellery (USD 3.2 billion), ready-made garments of cotton, including accessories (USD 2.8 billion), and products of iron and steel (USD 2.7 billion).

Imports included crude oil (USD 4.5 billion), petroleum products (USD 3.6 billion), coal, coke (USD 3.4 billion), cut and polished diamonds (USD 2.6 billion), electric machinery (USD 1.4 billion), aircraft, spacecraft and parts (USD 1.3 billion), and gold (USD 1.3 billion).

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

We hope to sign first phase of bilateral pact with US by Oct: FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said India is "actively engaging" with the new US administration and hopes to conclude the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement "positively" by fall (September-October) this year.

"We are one of the countries which is actively engaged with the new administration of the United States of America to see how best we can get a bilateral trade agreement done," he said during an interaction with the Indian diaspora here.

Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to launch talks for a bilateral trade deal amid the lurking fear of reciprocal tariff being imposed by Washington.

"Equally, the priority that we gave to engage with the government here is more than obviously seen with the Prime Minister himself visiting the United States in February. You had the Commerce and Trade Minister come. I have come here because I also have the IMF and World Bank meeting.

"I am scheduled to meet the treasury secretary, my counterpart here. So the keenness with which we are engaging with the US administration, even as I talk, I think the US vice-president is in India. He will be engaging with the Prime Minister hopefully this evening or tomorrow," she said.

The US and India have aimed for a bilateral trade agreement (BTA), which is a kind of free trade pact. The two have decided to conclude the proposed BTA in two tranches or phases.

"So, the long and short of engaging with the US is not just reciprocal tariff-related matter but in the interest of keeping an agreement in mind and in the interest of one of the largest trading partners with whim we need to have agreement we are working in order that by the fall this year we should have first phase of agreement signed," she said.

The US President announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs (or import duties) on a number of countries, including India and China, on April 2.

However, on April 9, he announced a 90-day suspension of these tariffs until July 9 this year, except for those on China and Hong Kong, as about 75 countries approached America for trade deals. China is facing up to 245 per cent duty on its goods entering the US.

"In between all this, the Assistant USTR (US Trade Representative) had visited India to see the progress or to engage with the negotiating team who is dealing with the tariff-related negotiation and the bilateral trade agreement that we want to sign. In fact, the progress of the agreement, or the trade agreement that we are working on, at least a first tranche is something which we hope to conclude positively by the fall this year," she said.

Responding to a query on India's future global leadership and how the current budget supports this ambition, Sitharaman highlighted India's progress in critical areas like semiconductors, renewable energy -- including modular nuclear energy -- digital infrastructure, and artificial intelligence (AI).

She further said the government at the Centre is working with the objective to make India a developed nation by 2047.

"Our government's primary focus is Viksit Bharat by 2047 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasised that it can be achieved by looking after the four main 'castes' -- Women, Poor, Youth and Farmers," she said.

India's focus is also on the 'Sunrise Sectors' which are important to build our capacities and areas such as Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) where India has emerged as a global leader, she said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 🔺