New Delhi: A day after US President Donald Trump claimed India had offered to cut its tariffs to zero for his country, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said talks on a bilateral trade pact with Washington would not be bound by deadlines, and that any agreement must be fair and mutually beneficial.
Speaking at a conference, Goyal confirmed that discussions with the US were active despite the recent friction over Washington’s recent tariff hike and a postponed round of talks.
“We never negotiate trade deals with a deadline. We only negotiate good trade deals that are mutually beneficial,” Goyal told industry leaders at the 20th Global Sustainability Summit organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry. “We are always open to an equitable and mutually beneficial trade deal.” he said.
Negotiations on the trade pact, which began in March, have already seen five rounds of talks. The process suffered a setback after Washington postponed its delegation’s sixth-round visit slated for 25 August, days before the country doubled duties on Indian exports.
The first tranche of the 25% duty imposed by the US on Indian goods came into effect on 7 August, while the second tranche, linked to India’s purchase of Russian oil, took effect 27 August, raising the overall tariff to 50%.
A senior government official said India had no immediate plan to retaliate against the steep tariff hike and will instead focus on export diversification and a policy reset to boost manufacturing while attracting greater investments.
“Informal discussions (on the trade pact with the US) are ongoing,” the official said, noting that New Delhi was looking for a breakthrough on the tariff issue.
On Monday, on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed India had offered to reduce tariffs on US goods to zero—at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was meeting Chinese and Russian leaders, showing solidarity with them while there was mounting pressure from Washington.
Calling the US relationship with India “one-sided,” Trump said: “They have now offered to cut their tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago.”
On India’s trade policy beyond the US, Goyal said the country was building new partnerships through free trade agreements, having already concluded such pacts with Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the UK, the EFTA (European Free Trade Association) bloc, and the first tranche with Australia. Talks are ongoing with the European Union, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, Oman, and a second tranche with Australia.
A lot has happened and “lots more” remains to be done, the minister said underscoring India’s growing economic weight as a $15 trillion economy in purchasing power parity terms and soon to be the world’s third-largest economy, after the US and China.