Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Saturday said negotiations between India and the US are continuing in a “cordial atmosphere” to finalize a bilateral trade agreement (BTA).
Addressing a press conference, however, he refrained from giving a timeframe for the ‘good news’ about the signing of the proposed BTA. But he did emphasise that no agreement can be made until the interests of India‘s farmers, fishermen, and the MSME sector are protected, the media reported.
The official Indian team, headed by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, was in Washington this week to continue trade talks with their US counterparts.
In February 2025, leaders of the two countries had directed officials to negotiate a proposed BTA. They also fixed a deadline to conclude the first tranche of the pact by the Fall (October-November, 2025). So far, five rounds of negotiations have been completed. Last month, Goyal had led an official delegation to New York for trade talks.
Relations between the world’s two largest democracies came under severe stress after US President Donald Trump imposed a steep 50 percent tariff on imports of Indian goods, including a 25 percent additional duty as a penalty for buying Russian crude oil.
India has described these duties as “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable.”
However, the recent telephonic conversations between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump have raised hopes of a positive outcome from the ongoing negotiations for the BTA.