India is close to finalizing a trade deal with the United States, with both sides reportedly near agreement on most issues, a government official said, even as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal stressed that New Delhi will not rush into any pact, according to Bloomberg.
“There has been convergence on most issues, and a deal is in sight,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the private nature of discussions, told reporters in New Delhi. Goyal earlier said India would not be pressured to finalise agreements.
“We don’t do deals in a hurry, and we don’t do deals with deadlines, with a gun on our head,” he said at an event in Berlin, Germany. “And we have accepted that if there is a tariff on us, there is a tariff on us.”
US President Donald Trump has targeted India with a punitive 50 per cent tariff, citing its purchase of Russian oil and limited market access for American goods. Washington has also asked New Delhi to halt all Russian imports, a key condition for a trade deal.
Goyal said India is looking at newer markets to deal with the high tariffs.
Asked if India is getting a fair trade deal that is long term with conditions attached, Goyal said, "I do not think India has ever decided (that) who its friends will be based on any other considerations other than national interest. And somebody tells me (that) you can't be friends with the EU, I won't accept that or somebody tell me tomorrow, I can't work with Kenya, it's not acceptable".
The decision to buy a particular product from a country is something that the entire world will have to take a call on, he added.
"I was reading in today's paper, Germany is asking for an exemption from US sanctions on oil. The UK already has sorted or probably got an exemption for procuring oil from the US. So then why single out India," he wondered.
In February this year, leaders of India and the US directed officials to negotiate a proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
They have fixed a deadline to conclude the first tranche of the pact by the fall of 2025.
When asked about the November deadline, the official said: "We are hopeful".
Last month, Goyal also led an official delegation to New York for trade talks. The talks paused briefly after the US announced high tariffs on Indian goods.
After a brief break, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch met with Indian officials in New Delhi on September 16.
In that meeting, both sides agreed to push for an early and mutually beneficial conclusion to the agreement.
The proposed pact aims to more than double the bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030 from the current USD 191 billion.
The US remained India's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with bilateral trade valued at USD 131.84 billion (USD 86.5 billion exports).
It accounts for about 18 per cent of India's total goods exports, 6.22 per cent in imports, and 10.73 per cent in the country's total merchandise trade.
India's merchandise exports to the US declined by 11.93 per cent to USD 5.46 billion in September due to the high tariffs imposed by Washington, while imports increased by 11.78 per cent to USD 3.98 billion during the month, according to the Commerce Ministry data.
(With inputs from PTI)
