India's US Trade Deal Is 'Very Far Advanced' — But a 10% Tariff Still Applies

Two pieces of news about the US-India trade relationship landed within 48 hours of each other at the end of September 2026. On 29 September, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told reporters that the long-negotiated bilateral trade agreement was “very, very far advanced,” with the main sticking point being an unresolved tariff action rather than the broader deal itself. A day later, on 30 September, Prime Minister Modi and President Trump spoke by phone and, per Modi's own readout, “reviewed our bilateral cooperation in trade, defence, energy, critical technologies and other areas.” For manufacturers, merchant exporters and importers trading in Indian spices and agri-commodities, the practical question is simpler: what tariff actually applies to a shipment leaving India for the US today, and what might change?

Two tariff layers, one shipment

Right now, exporters are navigating two distinct US tariff actions rather than one. The first is the broader “reciprocal tariff” framework that has been in place since April 2025. A White House Executive Order issued on 12 November 2025 carved a meaningful set of agricultural goods out of that framework — coffee, tea, tropical fruits, fruit juices, cocoa, spices, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, beef and certain fertilizers were excluded, effective 13 November 2025. The second, newer layer is a separate Section 301 action tied to a US investigation into forced-labour enforcement across 60 economies. According to a Press Information Bureau release dated 24 July 2026, India was placed in the “lower tier” of that action, with a final additional duty of 10% — down from an initially proposed 12.5% — taking effect on products entered for consumption from 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on 24 July 2026, a date and rate also confirmed in the US Federal Register notice published 28 July 2026. The PIB release notes that roughly 45% of India's exports to the US, including generic pharmaceuticals, smartphones and goods already covered under separate Section 232 measures (steel, aluminium, auto parts), remain outside the scope of this particular 10% duty. Whether individual spice tariff lines sit inside or outside that specific Section 301 exemption annex has not been published in product-by-product detail in the sources reviewed for this article, so exporters and buyers should confirm the applicable HTS classification directly rather than assume either outcome.

What the exemption numbers actually show

The clearer, better-documented picture is the one tied to the November 2025 reciprocal-tariff carve-out. An analysis by the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), reported by The Tribune on 15 November 2025, quantified which of India's agricultural export lines benefited: pepper and capsicum preparations ($181 million), ginger-turmeric-curry spice mixes ($84 million), cumin and anise seeds ($85 million), cardamom and nutmeg ($15 million), and tea ($68 million), among other niche categories. GTRI's own caveat is worth repeating rather than skating past: India has little to no presence in several of the largest exempted product lines overall, such as tomatoes, citrus, melons, bananas and most fresh fruit and juice categories, so the real-world advantage for Indian exporters is concentrated specifically in spices and tea rather than spread evenly across agriculture.

Where the broader deal stands

Jaishankar's 29 September comments framed the Section 301 process as “still in the works, it's still unfolding” — language that suggests the two governments see the tariff investigation, not the underlying trade agreement text, as the remaining obstacle to signing. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has separately described the pact as progressing on the basis of India retaining a competitive tariff position relative to ASEAN nations, China and Bangladesh. None of this has produced a signed agreement or a confirmed date, and the 30 September Modi-Trump call, per available reporting, also touched on a US sanctions-related act affecting Russian energy buyers — a reminder that the trade file sits inside a wider and still-moving bilateral agenda.

Business takeaway: if you manufacture, merchant-export or buy Indian spices for the US market, don't rely on last year's tariff assumptions. Pepper, turmeric-based spice mixes, cumin and cardamom have genuine, documented carve-outs under the November 2025 reciprocal-tariff framework, but a separate 10% Section 301 duty has applied since 24 July 2026 and its product-level exemption annex deserves a direct check against your specific HTS codes before you quote a landed cost to a US buyer. At SATA GreenX we supply export-grade Black Pepper, Turmeric Powder and Cumin Seeds, and we work through these classification questions with buyers on a shipment-by-shipment basis — if a US-bound order is on your desk this quarter, it is worth confirming current duty treatment before costing, not after.