The Cabinet Secretariat has instructed ministries, including information technology, agriculture and animal husbandry, not to directly engage with the US on trade issues and instead go through the department of commerce.This comes after some US officials approached other ministries in an attempt to push their demands.The US has been trying to seek unconditional market access for its dairy products in India , besides incentives and tariff concessions for its ICT products including mobile phones – issues that are being discussed in the trade package that the two countries are negotiating.“Individual ministries have been told not to negotiate with the US directly but go through the commerce department because they are the ones negotiating the trade package,” said an official aware of the development, adding that no formal directive has been issued.The US wants a special dispensation comprising export sops and duty cuts for high-end mobile phones costing over Rs 10,000, which India can’t give selectively to the US. World Trade Organization norms do not permit member-nations to extend country-specific benefits.If the government yields, China, too, would benefit from these incentives and this would adversely impact India, which already has a huge trade deficit.“The US does its advocacy through other departments like agriculture and animal husbandry. ...they do that with all countries. However, on trade and commerce issues, it is the commerce department which does all negotiations,” said another official.“The US is known to try all tricks when it negotiates a deal with any country and India needs to be cautious of indirect lobbying. Trade issues fall in the commerce department’s remit and are best left to them,” said a trade expert. Besides goods and services, the trade package will have a “bouquet of issues” such as data localisation, intellectual property and technology transfer.