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Days after US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Leslie Rollins said the India-US trade deal would expand access for American farm products, the US Department of Agriculture told The Indian Express that India has “significant potential” to step up agricultural imports from their country, which were earlier hampered by “high” and “unjust” tariffs.
Responding to a questionnaire from this newspaper, addressed to Rollins, on the agricultural components of the trade deal, a USDA spokesperson stated: “India has significant potential to expand imports of US agricultural products. High tariffs, unjustified non-tariff measures and other restrictions have afflicted US products across the board. Reductions in these barriers, and reforms in India’s overly generous subsidy programs, could help to level the playing field for US farmers, ranchers and producers and support more balanced, mutually beneficial trade over time.”
The spokesperson stated: “USDA’s Three-Point Plan, announced in September 2025, works to chip away at the $50 billion agricultural deficit through market promotion support, rapid response to reciprocal trade agreements, and boosting rural prosperity.”
The statement comes a day after Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told the Rajya Sabha that “India’s key sensitivities in the food and agriculture sector have been fully taken into account” in negotiations with the US on the trade deal.
Taking to X on February 3, hours after US President Donald Trump announced the deal, Agriculture Secretary Rollins had posted that the “deal will export more American farm products to India’s massive market, lifting prices, and pumping cash into rural America”. “In 2024, America’s agricultural trade deficit with India was $1.3 billion. India’s growing population is an important market for American agricultural products and today’s deal will go a long way to reducing this deficit,” Rollins wrote.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “also committed to “BUY AMERICAN,” at a much higher level, in addition to over $500 BILLION DOLLARS of U.S. Energy, Technology, Agricultural, Coal, and many other products”.
Thank you @POTUS for ONCE AGAIN delivering for our American farmers.
New US-India deal will export more American farm products to India’s massive market, lifting prices, and pumping cash into rural America.
In 2024, America’s agricultural trade deficit with India was $1.3… https://t.co/Z04eNDfXjD
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) February 2, 2026
The US has, for long, been trying to gain access to India’s agriculture products market. India’s imports in this sector mainly include fresh fruits, dry fruits and nuts including almond and walnut, alcoholic beverages, cotton raw, vegetable oils and processed items. In 2024, agricultural imports from the US stood at $2.4 billion.
At the same time, India’s agricultural exports to the US —mainly marine products, spices, dairy products, rice and herbal products — stood at $6,2 billion, accounting for 11.74 per cent of the country’s total agricultural exports of $53.2 billion.
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In 2023, India and the US settled an outstanding poultry dispute at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). As a result, India agreed to reduce tariffs on certain US products, including frozen turkey, frozen duck, fresh blueberries and cranberries, frozen blueberries and cranberries, dried blueberries and cranberries, and processed blueberries and cranberries.
In August last year, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had told a gathering of farm leaders that while the US wants its soybean, wheat and maize and rice to be exported to India, the interests of Indian farmers “will not be compromised”.
On Tuesday, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Chouhan reiterated that the “Government undertakes negotiations for Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) only after carefully safeguarding the interests of Indian agriculture, allied sectors and farmers, including small and marginal farmers”. “Adequate safeguards are built in to protect sensitive sectors such as agriculture and dairy from unfair competition,” he said.
On Thursday, Chouhan’s office issued a statement quoting him as saying that “no market segment has been opened in a manner that could harm Indian farmers, and all major crops, food grains, fruits and dairy products remain shielded”.
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The statement also referred to the “confusion triggered by a recent tweet from the US Treasury Secretary about increased access for American farm products” and said Chouhan has pointed out that Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has “already clarified the facts in Parliament”.
English (US) ·