Deal with U.S. ‘very near’, teams are engaging virtually on pending issues: Commerce Secretary

A preliminary trade deal with the United States, dealing with the tariffs, is “very near”, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal again said, however adding that he could not specify a precise date by when it would be done. He added that the two sides are currently engaged in negotiations and that talks never broke down. 

“With the U.S., the discussions have never broken down,” Mr. Agrawal said at a press briefing. “We are engaged. They came in December. After that there has been a virtual meeting also between the Commerce Minister and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in the last week of December 2025.”

A team of negotiators from the U.S., led by Deputy USTR Rick Switzer had visited India and met Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on December 10, 2025 and Mr. Agrawal on December 11, 2025 to take the negotiations forward. 

“The negotiation teams are talking virtually on issues that are still pending,” he added. “It is very near, but we can’t put a deadline. It will happen once both sides are ready.”

However, Mr. Agrawal had in December also said that a tariff deal was “very near”.

The latest trade data, released on Thursday (January 15, 2026), showed that India’s merchandise exports to the U.S. stood at a five-month high of $7.01 billion in December 2025, up from $6.89 in December 2024. 

“This is where we are still holding on to a positive trend, that is a positive that we can take from the data,” Mr. Agrawal said. “It was still around $7 billion despite the high tariffs. That goes on to say that probably we are focussing on areas where the tariffs are less, and on areas where the high tariffs are there, our industry has been showing resilience and are holding on to their supply chains.”