India and US are back at the negotiating table for the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), but India will continue to protect the interests of farmers, fishermen, and MSME sectors, said Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, on Saturday.
“Bharat ke kisano ka, machhuvaaron ka, Bharat ke MSME sector ka, jub tak desh hiton ko puri tarah se hum sambhalen nai, tab tak koi agreement kiya nai jata (No agreement can be made until we take care of the interests of India’s farmers, fishermen and MSME sector),” he told reporters at an event in New Delhi.
The minister added that the talks were taking place in a “cordial atmosphere”.
India’s team, headed by Commerce Secretary, Rajesh Agrawal, was in Washington this week to hold another round of trade talks with their US counterparts. Last month, Goyal led an official delegation to New York for the trade talks.
The two countries have so far held five rounds of talks, but nothing substantial has emerged from the negotiations, especially surrounding difficult conversations surrounding the farming sector, which the US is demanding more concessions on.
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It was in February this year that leaders of India and the US directed officials to negotiate a proposed BTA. They fixed a deadline to conclude the first tranche of the pact by fall (October-November) of 2025.
The deliberations come at a point when relations between the two countries have been reeling under severe stress after the Trump administration imposed a steep 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods. It includes a 25 per cent additional import duty for buying Russian crude oil.
India described these duties as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.
However, tensions de-escalated after recent phone conversations between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, raising hopes of a positive outcome from the ongoing negotiations.
After a brief gap, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia, Brendan Lynch, held talks with Indian officials in New Delhi on September 16. In that meeting, both sides agreed to push for an early and mutually beneficial conclusion of 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.
India’s exports will register a positive growth in 2025-26
Goyal has expressed confidence that despite global uncertainties due to US tariffs, India’s exports will register a positive growth in 2025-26.
The country’s goods and services exports grew by about 5 per cent to USD 413.3 billion during April-September 2025-26, said the minister, adding that the merchandise shipments too rose by 3 per cent to USD 220.12 billion during the period.
“There is resilience, there is confidence, there is a demand for our goods and services across the world and India will continue on this growth trajectory, and we are confident we will end 2025-26 with a positive growth in India’s exports,” he said.
High tariffs imposed by the US has disrupted global supply chains, including India’s, whose exports fell by about 12 per cent in September.
Talking about benefits of the recent cut in GST rates, Goyal said the outward FPI in September came down to less than USD 900 million from around USD 4 billion in August.
“As soon as the GST announcement came in, investors quickly realised that this is a bonanza. Demand will go up massively,” he said.
On e-commerce firms that have not passed on the benefits of GST cut to consumers, the minister said: “If any site or platform has not passed on the benefits ...consumer affairs (department) can take action ...all industry and businesses have assured me that full benefit will be passed on to consumers.”
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