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US-India trade deal still unsigned as Rubio heads to India

Washington and New Delhi agreed a framework in February, but talks have hit a plateau. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits India this week without stopping in the capital.

ScrollBeat DeskPublished: 18 Oct 2026, 11:52

US President Donald Trump and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a bilateral meeting at the United Nations in New York in 2019. The two countries have still not finalised a bilateral trade deal. Shealah Craighead / The White House (public domain)

India and the United States have still not finalised the bilateral trade deal they set in motion last year, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in India this week with the agreement unfinished.

Rubio is due to visit Mumbai, India's financial hub, and the oil city of Jamnagar in Gujarat during a six-day trip that began with a stop in Uzbekistan. He will not visit New Delhi.

The two countries agreed a framework for an interim deal in February under which Washington would lower reciprocal tariffs on most Indian goods to 18 percent from 25 percent, while India would cut duties on a range of industrial and agricultural products. The agreement has not been signed.

India's finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said last week that the talks had reached a plateau with little room for further concession. Her comment followed a statement by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that an announcement was not imminent.

Several issues are in the way. Agriculture is sensitive for India, which does not want to expose its farmers to greater foreign competition. Washington wants India to buy more American energy. New Delhi wants its final tariff rate to be competitive with regional rivals such as Vietnam.

A new US law that allows tariffs of up to 100 percent on countries buying Russian oil has added to the uncertainty, though President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday waiving those threatened sanctions. US courts have also struck down the legal basis of some of Trump's tariffs, casting doubt over what Washington can actually offer.

India's trade minister, Piyush Goyal, said this week that the first phase of the deal was in its final stage of legal drafting, but that it would not be operational until India secured an advantage over its competitors.

Trade has held up so far. India's goods exports to the United States rose about 21 percent in August to $8.3 billion, compared with the same month a year earlier when tariffs stood at 50 percent. Economists warn that a return to higher tariffs would weigh on India's growth and its already weak rupee.

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Ginger and garlic prices jump in Dhaka as vegetable costs stay high

Ginger rose by Tk50-60 a kilogram in two days in the capital's kitchen markets, with onions, garlic and most vegetables also climbing while eggs eased slightly.

ScrollBeat Desk18 Oct 2026, 13:04Open this article

A vegetable shop in Dhaka. Ginger, onion, garlic and most vegetables have become more expensive in the capital's kitchen markets, while egg prices have eased slightly. Photo: Yahya / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ginger prices in Dhaka's kitchen markets jumped by Tk50-60 a kilogram in two days, with Chinese ginger selling for about Tk190 a kilogram at markets in Hatirpool, New Market and Lalbagh on 16 October, up from Tk130-140 the previous Wednesday, according to market surveys by The Business Standard.

Onions were selling for about Tk60 a kilogram and local garlic for about Tk100, The Business Standard reported. A separate survey by The Daily Star at Karwan Bazar found wholesale onion prices up by Tk4 a kilogram to Tk48-52, and ginger and garlic up by Tk20-30 a kilogram in a week.

Most vegetables, except papaya and pumpkin, cost Tk80 a kilogram or more. Tomatoes reached Tk180-200 a kilogram and beans Tk160, while traders said supplies of early winter vegetables were still too small to bring prices down.

Egg prices, which had reached about Tk160 a dozen two weeks earlier, eased to Tk145-150. Poultry prices were broadly steady, but beef sold for about Tk800 a kilogram and mutton for Tk1,250.

Traders blamed higher transport and input costs for pushing up wholesale prices, and shoppers said they were buying smaller quantities to manage household budgets. Bangladesh has faced persistent food inflation for months, with essentials climbing after recent floods damaged crops in dozens of districts.

NEXT STORY World

Saudi-led coalition reports helicopter crash in Najran as Houthis claim a shootdown

The coalition said an AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter came down with a technical fault, killing two officers. A Houthi spokesman said the group shot down a Saudi Apache.

ScrollBeat Desk18 Oct 2026, 13:04Open this article

A US Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter in flight over Alaska in 2019, in a file photo. Saudi Arabia operates Apache helicopters; a Houthi spokesman said the group shot down a Saudi Apache near Najran, while the Saudi-led coalition said a National Guard AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter crashed with a technical fault. Photo: CW2 Cameron Roxberry / U.S. Army (public domain)

The Saudi-led coalition said on 18 October that a Saudi National Guard reconnaissance helicopter crashed in the Najran region near the border with Yemen because of a technical malfunction, killing its two-officer crew.

Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said the AH-6i helicopter came down inside Saudi territory. The official Saudi Press Agency carried his statement.

The crash was reported a day after the Houthis' military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said in a post on X that the group had shot down a Saudi Apache helicopter near Najran while it was carrying out what he called hostile operations against Houthi positions along the border. Saree gave no details of the weapon, the crew or the exact location.

Al-Maliki rejected that account. He replied to Saree's post with a photo of several Apache helicopters lined up, saying: "You claim to have shot it down, but it will enter the battlefield soon."

The two sides described different aircraft types, and it was not clear that they were referring to the same helicopter.

Najran, in south-western Saudi Arabia on the Yemen border, has come under repeated Houthi drone and missile attacks in recent weeks as fighting has escalated. The coalition also said it intercepted two ballistic missiles fired towards Khamis Mushait and a drone over the Riyadh region.