'We are fully engaged with the US on BTA': Commerce Secretary

India remains fully engaged with the US on negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement and talks are progressing well, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Thursday. The end date for the first tranche of the BTA remains the fall of 2025, which is September or October this year, he further underlined.

Addressing reporters, Barthwal added that the status of the US delegation visiting India for the next round of trade talks would be known closer to the scheduled date of August 25.

At present, five rounds of negotiations have taken place between India and the US for the trade deal and a sixth round was scheduled for later this month. However, sources underscored that negotiations are continuing between the two countries on several levels including ministerial, diplomatic and through the negotiating team.

This comes in the backdrop of the US imposing a 25% reciprocal tariff on Indian goods from August 7 and another 25% tariff as a penalty from August 27. “The additional tariff depends on how geopolitics unfolds over the next 21 days,” sources said, adding that it is too early to speculate on how it will pan out.

However, between April and July, there does not seem to have been a significant impact or front-loading of exports by India to the US. As per official data, India’s exports to the US stood at $33.53 billion between April and July, which is a 17.8% rise over $27.57 billion in April-July 2024. Even ahead of the expected levy of reciprocal tariffs, India’s exports to the US in July was $ 8.01 billion as against $8.3 billion in June and $6.68 billion in July 2024.

The US remains India’s largest trading partner and the commerce ministry is in touch with exporters and export promotion councils to assess the impact of the 25% tariff already in effect.

The government is working on several strategies including diversification of exports and export markets and expanding the focus to top 50 importing countries, fast tracking free trade agreements and complete saturisation of trade deal utilisations. The ministry is also working on the proposed export promotion mission that would enable broad based, sustainable and inclusive export growth over the next six year from FY25 to FY31.

Several inter ministerial committees have also been set up to understand the sectoral impact of the tariffs ad states governments are also looking at how they can facilitate exporters.

The commerce secretary however, noted that despite uncertain global policy environment, India’s exports in July as well as between April to July 2025 have grown substantially. In July 2025, India’s merchandise exports grew 7.29% to $37.24 billion from $34.71 billion in July 2024 while imports rose 8.6% to $64.59 billion. Trade deficit in July 2025 was $ 27.35 billion.

On the issue of tariffs, the Secretary said that whether the US levies a secondary tariff will depend on how geopolitical events unfold up to August 27. If conditions are favorable for India, the US may not impose additional duties.

A key meeting tomorrow will focus on mediating between Russia and Ukraine.

Progress is also being made on trade with China, with the commerce secretary calling developments “positive.”