New Delhi, Nov 17: India and the US are “nearing closure” of their talks for signing the first tranche of the proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal indicated on Monday.
Agrawal told journalists that the two countries have been holding regular virtual rounds of talks on the BTA. Although no formal deadlines can be set on the issue, the first stage of the trade talks is progressing swiftly, he added.
US President Donald Trump sent positive signals on strengthening U.S.-India relations last week, raising fresh hopes that a bilateral trade agreement between the world’s two largest democracies could be signed soon.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday that his talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were “going great” and that a visit to Delhi could take place next year. Earlier on Monday, Trump said that he plans to “lower tariffs” imposed on India “at some point”, indicating that a breakthrough in the trade talks could come soon.
“I think we’re pretty close to doing a deal (with India) that’s good for everybody,” Trump said, in answer to a question from the media, at the ceremony for swearing in Sergio Gor as the new US Ambassador to India. While some Indian officials have been optimistic over the India-US trade agreement being signed soon, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday that India would not compromise on the interests of farmers, the dairy sector and workers in trade deals that it signs with other countries.
“We are working on a fair, equitable and balanced trade deal,” he said. The minister further stated that the timing of such deals would depend on mutual readiness. “The trade deal can happen tomorrow, it can happen next month, it can happen next year… but as a government, we are preparing for any contingency,” he added.
India has already started buying more oil and gas from the US. The move is aimed at reducing India’s trade surplus with the US, an issue that had figured in the earlier rounds of trade talks. In this context, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri announced on Monday that India’s public sector oil companies have successfully concluded a one-year structured contract to import around 2.2 million tonnes per annum of LPG from the US Gulf Coast during 2026.
This represents close to 10 per cent of India’s annual LPG imports and marks the first such structured LPG contract with the US for the Indian market. The minister described the decision “as a historic development,” noting that one of the world’s largest and fastest growing LPG markets has now opened up to the US.
IANS
