Phase-I of bilateral trade agreement with US almost ready: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: India and the US have almost finalised the first tranche of their bilateral trade agreement (BTA), and New Delhi will discuss a mechanism to get preferential market access, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Monday.

About a dozen Indian negotiators are in Washington, for the first in-person trade talks since October.

"We are trying to cross the t's and dot the i's on that (BTA) and work out what would be the mechanism by which India can get preferential market access in the US market compared to our competitors," Goyal said. "The team will be discussing these while they are in Washington." He said he isn't visiting the US this time.

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The three-day trade negotiations on the proposed BTA from Monday to Wednesday follows a 40-minute phone call between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump last week.

India and the US had announced a framework for an interim agreement in early February and the US removed a 25% penal tariff on India for buying Russian oil and announced to cut the reciprocal tariff to 18% from 25%.

But before the deal was signed, the US Supreme Court on February 20 struck down US tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

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On February 24, Washington imposed a temporary 10% blanket tariff on all countries for 150 days under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
When India finalised the deal, it enjoyed a comparative advantage over its competitor countries. Now, with all countries facing a uniform 10% tariff, the bilateral pact requires recalibration, officials said.

Under the agreed framework, India proposed to eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers' grains (DDGs), red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products. India had also expressed its intention to purchase $500 billion of US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products, and coking coal over the next five years.

India's merchandise exports to the US in FY26 were $87.31 billion, compared with $86.51 billion in FY25. Imports rose to $52.9 billion from $45.63 billion during this period.

The US has initiated two investigations involving several countries, including India, under Section 301 of the Trade Act, which New Delhi has rejected.

On its $42-billion bilateral trade surplus with the US in 2025, New Delhi said a bilateral trade surplus between two countries is a "macroeconomic phenomenon which is a product of a concatenation of circumstances" including the role of certain non-market economies.

India, which has a "significantly smaller trade share with the US in comparison to the other trading partners, cannot be attributed to playing a role in widening the US trade deficit," India said in its submission to the USTR last week.