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Informist, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026

 

--Minister Goyal: To finalise trade deal with US after preferential treatment

--CONTEXT: Trade Minister Goyal's comments at workshop on leveraging FTA

--Minister Goyal: India secured good deal with US in every sensitive sector

--Minister Goyal: Industry associations must set ambitious export targets

 

Informist, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – India will finalise and announce details of the bilateral trade agreement with the US as soon as Washington gives the country preferential treatment compared to its peers, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday. He also reassured the country that India has secured a good deal with the US, especially in sensitive sectors such as agriculture.

 

"Every sensitive sector, sensitive to our farmers, to our fishermen, to our MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), to our workers, to our critical sectors like pharma, textiles, processed agri-foods, agricultural products, in every sector of interest, India has a good deal of which we can be proud of," he said at an outreach workshop in New Delhi on leveraging free trade agreements.

 

Negotiations on the India-US trade pact have seen many an ebb and flow, with the two countries having major differences on opening up India's sensitive agricultural sector to genetically modified products from the US. The Donald Trump administration's steep reciprocal tariffs and Section 301 probe against India on the failure to effectively prohibit the import of goods manufactured using forced labour and, now, the new Russia-linked bill, have added to the complexity of finalising a deal.

 

The two countries had on Feb. 7 issued a joint statement agreeing on a framework for an interim agreement for mutually beneficial trade but are yet to finalise the first phase of the trade agreement.

 

Goyal said the free trade agreement with New Zealand will be live soon, after which the FTA with the European Union will come into force. India and the EU concluded their trade deal in January while the FTA with New Zealand was signed in April.

 

"These nine FTAs, spanning about $60 trillion of GDP, will give us preferential access to nearly two-thirds of global trade," the minister said. He highlighted the country's efforts to renew a trade pact with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and increase access to markets in Japan and South Korea.

 

The minister encouraged manufacturers to further enhance the quality of exports to make India a trusted and resilient global economy by 2047, adding that industry associations must set ambitious export targets.

 

States must identify products that can be exported at a cluster level, Goyal said. Emphasising on building strong micro, small and medium enterprises, he said every contribution, big or small, is needed to increase the country's exports. "Big exporters will handhold small exporters and we will support even larger exports in every respect we can," he added.  End

 

Reported by Pratiksha and Radhika Tiwari

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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