Bilateral Trade
India, US moving toward 1st tranche of trade deal by Nov, says Minister Goyal
This story was originally published at 17:19 IST on 11 September 2025
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NEW DELHI – India and US are making good progress on securing the first tranche of the proposed bilateral trade deal by November, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday. Both the nations are satisfied with the progress made so far in the trade deal talks, Goyal said at an event in Bihar.
The commerce minister's comments come days after both US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced optimism over securing a trade deal at the earliest, which was previously looking far from conclusion.
The proposed trade deal with the US is seen as an insulation against the reciprocal tariffs but New Delhi and Washington are cross over US' demand to gain access to India's politically and socially sensitive farm and dairy sector. India has always been protective about its farm and dairy sector, but the US wants to push genetically modified crops and dairy products into India under the deal. New Delhi is unwilling to yield to these demands. If the 50% tariff continues, it could hurt India's growth by nearly half a percentage point.
Since March, serious discussions have been happening between the two nations in a conducive environment, according to Goyal. After differences arose between India and US over market access and steep reciprocal tariffs, Washington's negotiating team postponed their visit to India in August indefinitely.
The overall positive outlook on India-US trade negotiations comes as a huge positive for Indian exporters who are reeling under the heat of Washington's 50% tariff on Indian goods to the US, which accounts for nearly 20% of India's total exports. In 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), India exported goods worth $86.51 billion to the US and had a trade surplus of $40.82 billion. Citing displeasure over the high trade gap, the US has imposed 25% reciprocal tariffs on India, with an additional 25% as punitive tariff for trading with Russia.
US' higher tariffs on India result in a pricing disadvantage of 30–35% for Indian exports, making them less competitive than those from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, and other Southeast and South Asian countries. End
US$1 = INR 88.44
Reported by Priyasmita Dutta
Edited by Ashish Shirke
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