Consular Conversation: With India-U.S. Trade Deal on Horizon, Southeast Set to Play Key Role

Consular Conversations OTP: India

May 20, 2025
Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce

For four years running, the U.S. has been India’s largest trading partner, and even after amassing a $210 billion of goods and services trade, collaboration could be set to enter into an even higher gear.

With U.S. officials in India this week for talks, the two sides are closing in on a trade deal they believe would help them make progress toward the shared goal of more than doubling bilateral commerce to $500 billion.

The first round of talks was happening when Global Atlanta caught up Ramesh Babu Lakshmanan, India’s consul general in Atlanta, during a wide-ranging Consular Conversations luncheon interview on how the world’s most populous country is coming into its own geopolitically — and making its presence felt in the Southeast U.S.

The gradual migration of some Apple iPhone production from China to India is proof of the post-pandemic consensus that too much reliance on China wasn’t a good thing, he said.

“That’s a classic example of decoupling which has already happened,” Mr. Lakshmanan said during the conversation, conceding that U.S.-China rivalry creates an opportune moment for India.

But India, he said, has always focused less on being a foil to any other country and more on its own fundamentals as a $4 trillion economy growing at about 7 percent per year, with two-thirds of 1.4 billion people still at working age.

Despite recent trade spats between the world’s two largest democracies, including President Trump’s threatened 26 percent “reciprocal” tariffs, now on hold, both sides have pressed for a July deal.

If successful, it would be a striking turn. Once called the “tariff king” by Mr. Trump, the consul general pointed out that India had recently garnered praise from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for bringing down non-tariff barriers, a testament to the gradual reforms to India’s business environment.

That should make for a simpler negotiation, and rumors have surfaced that India has offered to bring tariffs on non-agricultural goods to zero.

Both India and the United States signed separate trade deals with the United Kingdom during the same week in May.

Not wanting to speculate on terms, Mr. Lakshmanan urged patience as the two sides hammer out their agreement, building on the relationship between Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and their “mini-deal” during the first Trump administration.

“There is a template. There is a format already available, so it would have been easier for them to pull it off the shelf and start negotiating,” he said, noting that a group of U.S. negotiators was in India at the time of the interview.

All this said, India is focused not only on trade but on the transfer of technology and knowhow that will benefit both sides, principally through the joint Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies, or ICET, which covers artificial intelligence, minerals, defense and other sectors, many of which have ramifications for the Southeast.

“It is the time to go to India,” for aerospace companies, Mr. Lakshmanan said, “because the USA and India are aligned to have this technology transfer, to have co-production and things like that, rather than just trading.”

Firms could follow the lead of Lockheed-Martin, which gets empennages for its Georgia-made C130 cargo planes in Hyderabad, India, in partnership with Tata Aerospace, a partnership that is also producing India-made fighter jet fuselages.

Agriculture, the consul general’s “favorite sector,” is also a promising arena, he said, citing the consulate’s work to help introduce Georgia-grown pecans to India.

During the conversation at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Lakshmanan demystified South Indian naming conventions, delved into India’s foreign-policy doctrine on “strategic autonomy,” and described the consulate’s day-to-day activities and how it rides the coattails fo a highly successful diaspora.

With its own community, he said, the consulate is focused this year on the three C’s: Consular affairs, Community and Culture.

Externally, however, the goal is three T’s: Trade, Technology and Tourism — all designed to deepen Americans’ understanding of India while boosting its own economy.

Mr. Lakshmanan also addressed India’s most recent skirmish with Pakistan, describing how India would no longer entertain “nuclear blackmail” and would consider terror attacks emanating from Pakistan acts of war.

While the conflict with its neighbor is a “thorn in the flesh,” he said, it’s not impeding India’s rapid economic ascent.