India-US BTA likely to be operationalised by April

India and the US will begin official level meetings next week to finalise the legal text of the interim trade agreement, which is likely to be signed in March and operationalised in April.

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said that the interim trade deal between India and the US is likely to be signed next month and would become effective from April 2026.

A team led by India’s chief negotiator Darpan Jain is set to hold three-day meetings in Washington DC with their US counterparts from February 23 to finalise the legal text for the trade deal.

Following the joint statement on the agreement of the trade deal, the US had cut the reciprocal tariffs on India to 25% from the earlier 50%. Another executive order is awaited from the White House following which, the tariff on specific exports would be further lowered to 18% by the US. Officials had earlier indicated that the Executive Order may be issued this week.

Meanwhile, the commerce minister also said that India’s free trade agreements with the UK and Oman are also likely to be implemented from April this year. A trade deal with New Zealand is likely to be implemented from September 2026, he further said.

India and the UK had signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) in July last year following negotiations that took place from 2022 to 2025. Meanwhile, the FTA with Oman was signed in December 2025 and the negotiations for the trade deal with New Zealand was concluded in December last year.