New Delhi, June 9 -- During his India visit last month, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said that an India-US trade agreement was within reach by mid-July. Within days, though, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) sprang a brand-new tariff idea: additional tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 for failing to effectively enforce measures to prevent trade in goods that are associated with forced labour and child labour.

The US is keen to demonstrate it can close deals in spite of an unfavourable court ruling. But with the UK's domestic politics looking less conducive for implementing its free trade agreement with India and the EU pact yet to be ratified by its Parliament, the task of Indian negotiators has become tr...