The Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, said an impending India-US trade deal may culminate in the “near future”, but that India does not do trade agreements in a hurry or with a "gun to our head".
The Union Minister is in Berlin after having attended the 16th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Geneva.
India is actively negotiating trade pacts with countries and regions, including the European Union (EU) and the US, Goyal said, but added that it never takes decisions in a rush or in the heat of the moment.
"We are in active dialogue with the EU. We are talking to the US, but we do not do deals in a hurry and we do not do deals with deadlines or with a gun to our head," he said.
Goyal added that 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, he said, "I do not think India has ever decided who its friends will be based on any other considerations other than national interest... and somebody tells me 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."
“We are in dialogue with the United States of America,” the minister said during a press briefing in Germany, adding, “Our teams are engaged. We recently had the Commerce Secretary visit the US, and he met with his counterparts. We continue to engage with them and talks are progressing. We hope to work towards a fair and equitable agreement in the near future.”
Goyal’s latest update comes in the backdrop of trade tensions brewing between India and the US, leading to stalled negotiations that had been going on since months. Matters came to a head when US President Donald Trump hiked tariffs on Indian goods to an all-time high of 50 per cent in August, partly as punitive action for buying Russian crude oil, purchases that the President says help Kremlin in its war in Ukraine.
Trump recently asserted that India has agreed to scale down its crude oil purchases from Russia. India, on the other hand, has not confirmed this officially, although it did clarify that it will secure its national and energy security however it saw best.
A meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump is also not confirmed yet, with the dates of the next Quad Summit not finalised, and PM Modi saying he’ll attend the upcoming ASEAN summit only virtually.
Also Read: India, EU have ‘productive’ engagement on trade deal issues
On Thursday, Goyal posted on his social media handle, X, saying he had met Katherina Reiche, the German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy.
“Our discussions focused on deepening Indo-German ties in trade and investment, joint industrial and technological partnerships in green energy, new and emerging technologies, as well as defense. Talks also covered Germany’s commitment to finalising the India-EU FTA,” he said.
Goyal also met Levin Holle, Economic and Financial Policy Advisor at the Federal Chancellery and Germany’s G7 and G20 Sherpa.
The Union Minister also chaired a roundtable with CEOs and leaders of German Mittelstand companies at the Indian Embassy, who conveyed their “keenness” to do business in India and “expand existing investments”, the ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a release.
The minister also met Xavier Bettel, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Luxembourg and held one-on-one discussions with CEOs of leading German companies, including Infineon Technologies, Schaeffler Group, Renk, HerrenknechtAG, Enertrag SE, and the Mercedes Benz Group.
The decision to buy a particular product from a country is something that the entire world will have to take a call on, he said.
Follow us
