New Delhi: India and the US are "very near" to finalising a bilateral trade deal, an official said on Friday, even as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal insisted that New Delhi will not do any deal in a hurry or with a "gun to our head".
On The Trade Pact With The EU & The US
In the Berlin Global Dialogue, Goyal said India is in active dialogue for a trade pact with the EU and the US.
"...But we do not do (trade) deals in a hurry and we do not do deals with deadlines or with a gun to our head," he said, adding that India never takes decisions in a rush or in the heat of the moment.
Goyal on Thursday said that talks between India and the US for the proposed trade agreement are progressing, and expressed hope that both sides would work towards a fair and equitable agreement in the near future.
"We are very near as far as the deal is concerned," the official said, adding that not much differences are there now for the resolution.
Talks are progressing on the agreement, and no new issues are acting as a hurdle in the negotiations. "We are converging on most of the issues," the official added.
These deliberations are important, as relations between the two countries have been under severe strain since the Trump administration imposed a steep 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods. It includes a 25 per cent additional import duty for buying Russian crude oil.
India has described these duties as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable".
Goyal said India is looking at newer markets to deal with the high tariffs.
On India Getting A Fair Trade Deal
Asked if India is getting a fair trade deal that is long term with conditions attached, Goyal said, "I do not think India has ever decided (that) who its friends will be based on any other considerations other than national interest...and somebody tells me (that) you can't be friends with the EU, I won't accept that or somebody tell me tomorrow, I can't work with Kenya, it's not acceptable".
The decision to buy a particular product from a country is something that the entire world will have to take a call on, he added.
"I was reading in today's paper, Germany is asking for an exemption from US sanctions on oil...The UK already has sorted or probably got an exemption for procuring oil from the US...so then why single out India," he wondered.
These remarks assume significance as the US is putting pressure on India to stop buying crude oil from Russia.
The US, on October 22, imposed sanctions on Russia's two largest crude oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, barring all American entities and individuals from conducting business with them.
A team of Indian officials, headed by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, was in Washington last week to hold trade talks with their US counterparts. The three-day talks ended on October 17.
In February this year, leaders of India and the US directed officials to negotiate a proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
They have fixed a deadline to conclude the first tranche of the pact by the fall of 2025.
When asked about the November deadline, the official said: "We are hopeful".
Last month, Goyal also led an official delegation to New York for trade talks.
The talks paused briefly after the US announced high tariffs on Indian goods.
After a brief break, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch met with Indian officials in New Delhi on September 16. In that meeting, both sides agreed to push for an early and mutually beneficial conclusion to the agreement.
The proposed pact aims to more than double the bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030 from the current USD 191 billion.
The US remained India's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with bilateral trade valued at USD 131.84 billion (USD 86.5 billion exports). It accounts for about 18 per cent of India's total goods exports, 6.22 per cent in imports, and 10.73 per cent in the country's total merchandise trade.
India's merchandise exports to the US declined by 11.93 per cent to USD 5.46 billion in September due to the high tariffs imposed by Washington, while imports increased by 11.78 per cent to USD 3.98 billion during the month, according to the Commerce Ministry data.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
