India’s trade pact with the US hopes to move in full stride

India is in active dialogue with the United States, India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters at the India-Brazil Business Dialogue currently being held in New Delhi.

“We have signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with several developed countries over the last three years. We are in active discussions with the US, EU, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, and Oman,” the minister said.

Goyal also mentioned that discussions with Brazil on Thursday focused on expanding the existing preferential trade agreement so that India can, in the future, penetrate the South American market in a bigger way.

An Indian official delegation, led by Chief Negotiator and Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal, is currently in Washington to hold trade talks with their US counterparts. The team will remain there until October 17 to finalise a few deliberations.

In February this year, the leaders of India and the US had directed their officials to negotiate a proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). The team is hopeful of concluding the first tranche of the pact by the fall (October–November) of 2025. So far, five rounds of negotiations have been completed before being paused in July. Last month, Goyal led an official delegation to New York for further trade talks.

These deliberations are crucial, as relations between the two countries have been under strain since the Trump administration imposed a steep 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, including an additional 25 per cent import duty related to India’s purchase of Russian crude oil.

During a trade data briefing held yesterday, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agarwal shared that India’s energy purchases from the US have touched $22–23 billion in the past, and the country still has headroom of $12–13 billion for future purchases.