New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said India is negotiating a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the United States.
India has already inked free trade agreements with Australia, the UAE, Mauritius, the UK and the four-European nation bloc EFTA, he added.
“Lots happen, lots more to go…With the US, we are in dialogue with them on a BTA,” he said here at an industry chamber event on sustainability.
India and the US have been negotiating the pact since March. So far, five rounds of talks have been completed.
After a 50 per cent duty was imposed from August 27, the US team has deferred its visit to India for the next round of talks, which was scheduled from August 25.
So far, no new dates have been finalised for the sixth round of negotiations.
Amid tensions between India and the US, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that at the end of the day, the two great countries will get this solved. Delhi’s values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s.
Bessent, in an interview with Fox News, also termed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as being largely performative.
His remarks came after the annual summit of the SCO took place in the Chinese port city of Tianjin on Sunday and Monday.
“I think at the end of the day, India is the most populous democracy in the world. Their values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s.”
“I think at the end of the day, two great countries (India and the US) will get this solved. But the Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine,” he claimed.
India has defended its purchase of Russian crude oil, maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics.
Bessent’s comments came in response to questions about the status of the India-US relationship amid the Trump administration’s 50 per cent tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil.
India has termed the tariffs imposed on it as unjustified and unreasonable.
Goyal further said that India’s supply chains are resilient, and the nation is not at the “mercy of any other country choosing to switch on or switch off the tap”.
This, he said, is making India Atmanirbhar and self-reliant, building the confidence of young India to take on any challenge the world wants to throw at it.
On the India-EU free trade agreement, Goyal said talks are at an advanced stage.
“We are making very active and significant progress,” he said, adding that Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal is in Brussels for talks with EU officials on the pact.
The 13th round of negotiations between India and the EU will begin here on September 8.
After the meeting, European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic is likely to visit India next month to take stock of the progress of the agreement.
As there is a deadline to conclude the negotiations by the end of this year, this round is important.
The 12th round of talks concluded in Brussels.
In June 2022, India and the 27-nation EU bloc resumed negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement, an investment protection agreement and a pact on geographical indications (GIs) after a gap of over eight years.
It was stalled in 2013 due to differences on the level of opening up of the markets.
On February 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the European Commission President agreed to seal a much-awaited free trade deal by the end of this year.
The India-EU trade pact negotiations cover 23 policy areas or chapters, including Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, Investment, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Technical Barriers to Trade, Trade Remedies, Rules of Origin, Customs and Trade Facilitation, Competition, Trade Defence, Government Procurement, Dispute Settlement, Intellectual Property Rights, Geographical Indications, and Sustainable Development.
The EU market accounts for about 17 per cent of India’s total exports, while the EU’s exports to India make up 9 per cent of its total overseas shipments.
