India-US trade talks progressing: Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said talks between India and the US for the proposed trade agreement are progressing, and expressed hope that both sides would work towards a fair and equitable agreement in the near future. An Indian team, headed by commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal, was in Washington last week to hold trade talks with their US counterparts. The three-day talks ended on Oct 17. “We are in dialogue with the US, our teams are engaged. We recently had the commerce secretary visit the US, and he met with his counterparts. We continue to engage with them and talks are progressing. We hope to work towards a fair and equitable agreement in the near future,” Goyal told Doordarshan in Berlin.

In Feb this year, leaders of India and the US directed officials to negotiate a proposed bilateral trade agreement. They have fixed a deadline to conclude the first tranche of the pact by the fall (Oct-Nov) of 2025. So far, five rounds of negotiations have been completed. Last month, Goyal led a delegation to New York for trade talks. These deliberations are important as the relations between the two countries have been reeling under stress.