India – The first paragraph of the U.S. bilateral trade agreement may be before July: Report
India and the United States are expected to sign the first batch of the highly anticipated bilateral trade agreement (BTA) by July, according to sources speaking with ANI.
Business and Industry Secretary Piyush Goyal is currently in talks with U.S. officials.
Minister Goyal yesterday posted a good discussion on “The First Batch of Bilateral Trade Agreement with India-US” on social media platform X to speed up the first batch of the Indian-US bilateral trade agreement.
Sources show that a round of meeting with the U.S. Trade Representative has ended.
Officials from both countries discussed various issues related to commodity trade, and India promoted preferential treatment to labor-intensive exports such as leather and textiles.
During the discussion, the service department issues were also highlighted.
“We want to increase exports and keep what we are already exporting,” a source familiar with the negotiations told ANI. “BTA with the United States will be a win-win deal for both countries.”
Sources show that India still protects sensitive sectors, especially agriculture and dairy products.
India's main demand is to completely exempt certain goods from tariffs.
One of the sources added: “The negotiations are going on with a very positive attitude and we hope to end the agreement before the sunset clause set by the U.S., which expires on July 8.”
India-The U.S. trade deal will mark an important milestone in economic relations between the world's largest and fifth largest economies, which has the potential to open up new avenues for bilateral trade and investment.
For the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, the United States is India's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade worth US$131.84 billion. India's trade surplus in 2024-25 was US$41.18 billion.
At the latest meeting held by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May, the two leaders are determined to expand trade and investment to make their citizens more prosperous, their nation stronger, their economy more innovative and their supply chains more resilient.
They are determined to deepen U.S.-India trade relations to promote growth to ensure fairness, national security and job creation. To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade – the “Mission 500” – by 2030, which targets more than double the bilateral trade, reaching $500 billion.
In addition to the US negotiations, sources mentioned that trade negotiations with the EU are also underway and they are expected to gain early.
Sources say trade negotiations between India and the EU are progressing faster, with both sides considering ending talks on the early harvest trade agreement this year. The Ministry of Commerce's official Indian team will hold the next round of negotiations on a trade agreement with the EU in Brussels this week.
