India-US trade talks progressing, moving closer to fair deal, says Piyush Goyal

New Delhi,UPDATED: Oct 24, 2025 04:38 IST

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday that talks between India and the United States over a proposed trade agreement are progressing, adding that both sides are working toward a fair and equitable deal soon.

Speaking to Doordarshan in Berlin, Goyal said, “We are in dialogue with the USA, our teams are engaged. We recently had the Commerce Secretary visit the US and meet his counterparts. We continue to engage with them and talks are progressing. We hope to work towards a fair and equitable agreement in the near future.”

India and the US are making significant progress on a long-stalled trade agreement aimed at reducing US tariffs on Indian imports from 50%. India and the US aim to boost bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.

Five rounds of negotiations between India and the US have been completed after leaders of the two countries directed officials to negotiate a proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) in February this year.

Last month, Goyal also led an official delegation to New York for trade talks.

According to PTI, these talks hold added importance as India–US trade relations have been under strain since the Trump administration imposed a steep 50% tariff on Indian goods, including a 25% additional duty on imports linked to Russian crude purchases.

India has termed these duties “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable.” The negotiations were briefly paused after Washington announced the higher tariffs, further straining bilateral ties.

After a brief pause, trade talks resumed on September 16, when Brendan Lynch, the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, met Indian officials in New Delhi.

According to officials, both sides agreed to fast-track negotiations and work toward an early, mutually beneficial trade deal.

The proposed pact is ambitious — it aims to more than double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, up from the current $191 billion.

The United States remains India’s largest trading partner for the fourth straight year in 2024–25, with total trade valued at $131.84 billion, including $86.5 billion in exports, government data shows.

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