BIG update on India-US trade deal; Modi govt says new issues are not…

India(BHARAT)-US trade deal: In a major update on the deadlocked India(BHARAT)-US trade deal, a senior official of the Union government on Friday said New Delhi and Washington are “very near” ” to concluding the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), as both sides are converging on most issues and no new issues are acting as hurdles in the ongoing negotiations.

How India(BHARAT)-US trade deal talks are progressing?

The official said talks on a proposed India(BHARAT)-US trade deal are progressing and no new issues are acting as hurdle in the negotiations, PTI reported

“We are very near as far as deal is concerned. We are converging on most of the issues,” the official said, according to news agency PTI, adding that the two countries are sorting out the language of the agreement.

Notably, India(BHARAT) and the United States have held five rounds of talks so far in the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement, with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal  on Thursday expressing hope that both sides would work out a fair and equitable agreement in the near future.

Earlier, a team of India(BHARAT)n officials, headed by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, held trade talks with their US counterparts in Washington last week. In February this year, leaders of India(BHARAT) and the US directed officials to negotiate a proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), with fall 2025 given as a fixed deadline to conclude the first tranche of the pact.

Last month, Piyush Goyal had led an official delegation to New York for India(BHARAT)-US trade talks. The negotiations for a India(BHARAT)-US trade deal come amid strained India(BHARAT)-US relations following US President Doland Trump’s decision to impose punitive tariffs on India(BHARAT)n goods for New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil.

Why talks were paused?

The trade talks were briefly paused after Trump tariffs were announced, but resumed on September 16 when Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch met with India(BHARAT)n officials in New Delhi, where both sides agreed to push for an early and mutually beneficial conclusion to the agreement.

These deliberations are important, as relations between the two countries have been under severe strain since the Trump administration imposed a steep 50 per cent tariff on India(BHARAT)n goods. It includes a 25 per cent additional import duty for buying Russian crude oil.

The proposed pact aims to more than double the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 from the current $191 billion.

The US remained India(BHARAT)’s largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with bilateral trade valued a $131.84 billion (USD 86.5 billion exports). It accounts for about 18 per cent of India(BHARAT)’s total goods exports, 6.22 per cent in imports, and 10.73 per cent in the country’s total merchandise trade.

India(BHARAT)’s merchandise exports to the US declined by 11.93 per cent to USD 5.46 billion in September due to the high tariffs imposed by Washington, while imports increased by 11.78 per cent to USD 3.98 billion during the month, according to the Commerce Ministry data.

Trump tariffs on India(BHARAT)

US President Doland Trump has imposed 25 percent reciprocal tariffs on India(BHARAT)n goods and an additional 25 percent levies for New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties imposed on India(BHARAT) to 50 percent, with effect from August 27.

India(BHARAT) turned to purchasing Russian oil sold at a discount after Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and shunned its supplies over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Defending its purchase of Russian crude oil, India(BHARAT) has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics.

(With inputs from agencies)