India, US eye breakthrough in trade talks as Piyush Goyal visits Washington this weekend

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will lead a senior Indian delegation to Washington on May 17 for critical trade talks aimed at securing an interim bilateral trade agreement with the United States, an Indian official announced Tuesday.

The four-day visit, scheduled through May 20, will see Goyal engage with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as both nations push to finalize the first phase of the broader trade agreement by September-October.

Talks will focus on ironing out market access, rules of origin, and non-tariff barriers, with chief negotiators meeting from May 19 to 22. The discussions come amid a 90-day pause on retaliatory tariffs, following the US decision on April 2 to suspend its additional 26 percent tariffs on select Indian goods until July 9. However, a 10 percent baseline tariff remains in effect.

Goyal's visit follows Vice President JD Vance’s diplomatic trip to New Delhi last month and builds on groundwork laid during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit in February, where both sides set a target of finalizing a trade pact’s initial phase by fall 2025 and boosting bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.

India is pushing for duty cuts on labor-intensive sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, shrimp, oil seeds, grapes, and bananas. The US, meanwhile, seeks concessions in industrial goods, electric vehicles, dairy, wines, petrochemicals, and agricultural items such as apples and tree nuts.

Both nations have already launched sector-specific talks to hammer out these issues, with the proposed agreement covering 19 chapters including tariffs, services, customs facilitation, and non-tariff barriers. Washington continues to raise concerns over India's non-tariff practices that it claims restrict US exports.

With the US remaining India’s largest trading partner — bilateral trade hit $129 billion in 2024, with India enjoying a $45.7 billion surplus — the stakes are high for Goyal’s visit as both countries aim to avoid fresh tariff escalations and deepen economic ties under President Donald Trump’s administration.