Business
India-US Trade Deal Nears Finish Line, Pakistan Scrambles To Decode What Comes Next – Here’s Why
India-US Trade Deal: The long negotiations between India and the United States over a new trade agreement have finally reached the last mile. Officials on both sides say the deal is now in its “final stage”, and there is a strong possibility that it will be signed before the end of November. The expectation inside New Delhi is that the moment this agreement takes effect, the steep US tariff, presently around 50 percent on several categories of Indian products, will come down.
The possible tariff cut has already triggered fresh calculations across South Asia. Pakistan, in particular, is watching every step with unusual intensity. Diplomats in Islamabad believe the agreement will reveal how Washington intends to shape its economic presence in the region over the next decade. If the deal moves forward smoothly, India-US trade could rise to $500 billion by 2030, something that has caught the attention of every neighbouring capital.
A report in Dawn cited Pakistani diplomatic sources saying, “Pakistan and other South Asian countries are hoping that the agreement will encourage the United States to expand trade with the rest of the region as well.”
The official added that Islamabad wants Washington to extend the same level of economic engagement to smaller South Asian economies that it offers India.
According to the official, this is one of the reasons the joint US-Pakistan statement on bilateral trade is still on hold. Pakistan’s diplomats have been in discussions with the Office of the US Trade Representative, trying to settle the last details before making anything public.
Both sides continue to work on what officials describe as “loose ends” that must be tied up before the statement is released.
Pakistan Watches Every Move
The key concern in Islamabad is how to benefit from the American tariff concessions on goods made from raw materials imported from the United States. Pakistani officials are examining whether the same relaxations, once extended to India, could be used to increase Pakistan’s own exports to the American market.
For now, Islamabad prefers to stay silent. As one source said, “Pakistan is avoiding any immediate announcement. They are waiting for the India-US agreement to take its final shape.”
Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, had travelled to the United States in October for World Bank meetings. During that visit, he said that an official statement on Pakistan-US trade would be released “within a few weeks”.
US Tariff On India Set To Drop
The United States imposed a 19 percent tariff on Pakistani goods on August 1, far lower than the 50 percent duty applied to India. This gap has given Islamabad a rare edge. As of now, Pakistani firms are exporting more easily to America than their Indian counterparts.
Washington had earlier kept India’s tariff at 26 percent, but it was doubled to 50 percent after New Delhi expanded its purchases of Russian oil. With India now reducing its imports from Moscow, American officials have reportedly become more open to easing the tariff burden once the trade agreement is signed.
The coming weeks will decide whether this long pursuit of a trade breakthrough finally ends in success. Washington and New Delhi appear ready. Islamabad is also waiting to the deal to be inked, hoping it will reveal how much space remains for Pakistan, and for South Asia, to grow in America’s next phase of economic outreach.
The logo for the Food and Drug Administration is seen ahead of a news conference at the Health and Human Services Headquarters in Washington, April 22, 2025.
Nathan Posner | Anadolu | Getty Images
A key U.S. Food and Drug Administration official who oversees vaccines and biotech treatments will step down from the agency following multiple decisions that raised concerns within the industry.
Vinay Prasad, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, will leave the FDA at the end of April, an agency spokesperson confirmed on Friday. It is his second departure from the position: He briefly left the post in July following backlash over his regulatory decisions, and returned only two weeks later in August.
In a post on X, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the FDA will appoint a successor before Prasad returns next month to the University of California San Francisco, where he taught before taking the FDA position last year. Makary said Prasad “got a tremendous amount accomplished” during his tenure at the agency.
Prasad’s decision to step down comes after criticism of the FDA mounted within the biotech and pharmaceutical industry and among former health officials. In the past year, the agency has denied or discouraged the approval applications of at least eight drugs, according to RTW Investments, after taking issue with data the companies used to support their applications. The FDA also initially refused to review Moderna’s flu shot before it later reversed course.
All of those companies accused the FDA of reversing previous guidance about the evidence they could use to back their applications, sparking criticism within the industry that an unreliable regulatory process could stifle development of drugs for hard-to-treat diseases.
A former FDA official who spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity to speak freely on the issue called the reversals the worst kind of regulatory uncertainty because companies say they are being told one thing and then experience another.
In a statement earlier Friday, an FDA spokesperson said there was “no regulatory uncertainty,” adding the agency “makes decisions based on the evidence, but does not make assurances about outcomes.” The spokesperson said the FDA is “conducting rigorous, independent reviews and not rubber-stamping approvals.”
The most recent controversy came after the FDA discouraged UniQure from applying for expedited approval of its experimental treatment for Huntington’s disease.
The agency, which underwent staff cuts and an overhaul under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has faced broader backlash for its drug and vaccine approvals process. Critics have worried the agency could stifle the development of new treatments and risk the safety of patients.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported Prasad’s departure.
Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi says oil could hit $150 a barrel if the Iran conflict continues over the coming weeks.
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Us India Oil Waiver: ‘Releases the pressure on other refineries’: US says India’s Russian oil waiver is a short-term step to stabilise global prices – The Times of India
The United States has said its decision to grant India a temporary waiver to purchase certain Russian oil supplies is a short-term move aimed at stabilising global crude prices amid supply disruptions linked to tensions in the Middle East.US energy secretary Chris Wright said the measure is intended to quickly bring oil stored in floating reserves into the global market and ease immediate supply constraints.
Speaking to ABC News Live, Wright said large volumes of Russian crude are currently stored in tankers around southern Asia and that Washington had encouraged India to buy these cargoes.“We need to get oil on the market in the short term. In the long term, supplies are abundant. There’s no worry there,” Wright said, adding that the temporary step was necessary as oil prices were rising due to constraints in shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz.“As oil gets bid up a little bit because of those constraints coming out of the Straits of Hormuz, we’re taking a short-term action to say all this floating Russian oil storage that’s around southern Asia,” he said.Wright said the US had asked India to absorb those cargoes. “We’ve reached out to our friends in India and said, ‘Buy that oil. Bring it into your refineries.’ That pulls stored oil immediately into Indian refineries and releases the pressure on other refineries around the world,” he added.He stressed that the waiver does not represent a shift in Washington’s stance toward Moscow. “This is no change in policy towards Russia. This is a very brief change in policy just to keep oil prices down a little bit better than we could otherwise,” Wright said.Earlier in the day, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent announced a 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil cargoes stranded at sea.“To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the treasury department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil,” Bessent said in a post on X.
Indian refiners step up purchases
Following the waiver, Indian refiners have begun purchasing large volumes of Russian oil floating in Asian waters, reported news agency PTI, citing sources.The companies have snapped up around 20 million barrels of crude, mostly from non-sanctioned entities, though they are seeking legal clarity on whether the exemption also allows purchases from sanctioned firms.The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued a licence permitting the delivery and offloading of Russian crude loaded on vessels before March 5, 2026, with transactions allowed until April 4, 2026.The move comes as the widening West Asia conflict disrupts energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 40–50 per cent of India’s crude imports typically pass.India, which holds reserves covering roughly 25 days of crude demand, has turned to Russian cargoes at sea to ensure domestic fuel supplies remain stable. Indian refiners had already been importing about one million barrels of Russian oil per day in recent months.Industry estimates cited by PTI suggest around 15 million barrels of Russian crude are currently floating in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, while additional cargoes are waiting near Singapore and other routes that could reach Indian ports within weeks.Analysts say the waiver provides short-term relief for India’s energy security, though competition from other buyers, particularly China, may limit the volume of additional Russian oil available.
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