“Our economic integration with the US is increasing and I trust it will continue”: Commerce Secretary

India remains optimistic of expanding its trade relationship with the United States irrespective of the change in the Presidency, India’s Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Thursday, amidst concerns about the prospects of increasing protectionism and higher tariffs on foreign goods by the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

“India’s exports to the US have grown steadily between 2001 and 2023, which coincides with the tenure of four US Presidents,” Barthwal said at a press conference. According to commerce ministry data, India’s share in US’s imports increased from 0.9% in 2001 to 2.8% in 2023. In the same period, imports from India to the US increased by a CAGR of 10.48% compared to a 4.76% increase of imports from the rest of the world to the US.

“Whatever may be the Presidency, we are integrating our value chains with US, the way we are integrating the two economies through various agreements, including India Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) and bilateral mechanisms. We are able to have a sustained growth in terms of our share with US,” Barthwal said.

While he declined to comment on Trump’s previous comment when he termed India as the ‘tariff king’, Barthwal said underlined that India has been getting bipartisan support from the US, whatever may be the regime. “Our economic integration with the US is increasing and I trust it will continue,” he said.

When asked about the impact of a possible tariff increase on Chinese imports by the US, Barthwal said that India is waiting to see how it unfolds and the export strategy will be decided taking all these factors into consideration. He also underscored that it is still early days and US President elect Trump is still building his team and Cabinet. Following this, the US will make policy pronouncements and India will take a call based on that.

Meanwhile, Barthwal also expressed hope that India would cross the target of $800 billion for exports this fiscal given the robust growth in October. As per provisional data, India’s merchandise exports increased 17.25% year-on-year to $39.2 billion in October, while imports increased 3.9% YoY to $66.34 billion. The trade deficit, or the gap between imports and exports, was $27.14 billion during the month under review.