India got best trade deal with US among competing nations; both share powerful relationship: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: India has secured the best trade deal with the US compared to its competing nations, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday, noting that the two countries share a "very powerful" relationship.

He said that the US is the world's largest economy - USD 30 trillion - and nobody can wish it away.

"It has been a fantastic journey. We have the best of relations. You would have observed that through the last year, President Donald Trump has always had the best of things to say about India as a country, and about Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi. We have fantastic relations with our counterparts there.


"Even within your family, sometimes you can have one or two misunderstandings. It's a part of the course. I think it's a very, very powerful relationship that the US and India share. And we got the best deal amongst all the nations with whom we compete," Goyal said when asked about the trade relations with the US.

He was speaking at Raisina Dialogue 2026 here.

The minister added that India and the US are strategic partners, and the two are the largest democracies in the world.

"We have a large responsibility cast on both our nations. They are the world's largest economy, USD 30 trillion economy, nobody can wish them away," he said.

He said that ultimately a trade deal is about preference over competitors.

"What's a trade deal? You are trying to get a preference or a preferential access for yourself, your goods, your services, compared to your competitor. And we got the best deal amongst all the competing nations. I mean whether it's in our neighbourhood Pakistan or Bangladesh. If we look at the Asian region, we got the best deal amongst all of the competitors..." Goyal said.

He added that the India-US relationship is strong, multi-dimensional, and not only about trade as there is a huge technology overlay on it.

"There's a huge critical minerals partnership, there's a defense partnership, there's huge amount of investments that flow into India from the US. So it's a partnership of two countries which is going to define the future," he said.

These remarks are important as the two countries have finalised the framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement. Under the deal, the US had announced to reduce reciprocal tariffs on India to 18 per cent.

However, following the US Supreme Court striking down the tariffs, Trump imposed 10 per cent tariffs on all countries from February 24 for 150 days.

A meeting between chief negotiators of the two countries to finalise the legal text for the agreement has been postponed.