The Centre may consider fresh funds for specific programmes to incentivise exports. In the Union Budget for 2025-26, the Finance Ministry had allocated Rs 2,250 crore towards the Export Promotion Mission, with an aim to boost India’s MSME sector. Efforts to protect the country’s exports come at a time when experts see US’s plans to levy reciprocal tariffs to “correct longstanding imbalances in international trade,\” hitting Indian chemicals, transportation (automobiles), textiles and footwear sectors. Simultaneously, India is also negotiating a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with US, a decision taken during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to America on February 13. Both sides aim to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector BTA by fall 2025. India and the US last month also set a new goal, “Mission 500”, aiming to more than double their bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. The US is set to levy import duties against trading partners that match the existing levies foreign countries impose on American goods from April 2.