Chief negotiators from both sides are meeting in New Delhi from June 1-4 to finalise the details of the interim trade pact, whose framework was agreed upon in February. India’s chief negotiator is Darpan Jain, Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce, while the US team is led by its chief negotiator Brendan Lynch.
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The two sides are expected to finalise the details of the interim agreement and advance negotiations on the broader Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) covering market access, non-tariff measures, customs and trade facilitation, investment promotion, and economic security alignment.
The minister’s remarks come as both sides seek to provide preferential market access to their respective businesses under the proposed pact.
Goyal further added saying, “Would prefer a deal with US that offers competitive advantage over peer economies.”
What is the India-US trade deal?India and the US issued a joint statement on February 7 finalising the framework of the first phase of the BTA, also referred to as an interim trade agreement. Both sides will now have to finalise the legal text for the deal.
The US Supreme Court ruled on February 20 against President Donald Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Following that, the US President announced a 10 per cent tariff on all countries for 150 days starting February 24. In light of these changes, a round of talks between the chief negotiators that had been scheduled for February was postponed. The two sides subsequently met in Washington in April.
As the tariff landscape has changed in the US, both sides may wish to revisit the agreement’s framework.
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Under the agreed framework, India proposed to eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of food and agricultural products, and expressed intentions to purchase $500 billion worth of US energy products, aircraft, precious metals, and technology over the next five years.
The US was India’s second-largest trading partner in 2025-26. India’s exports to the US grew marginally by 0.92 per cent to $87.3 billion during the last fiscal year, while imports increased by 15.95 per cent to $52.9 billion.