New Delhi, Sep 2: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said India is negotiating a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the United States.
India has already inked free trade agreements with Australia, the UAE, Mauritius, the UK and the four-European nation bloc EFTA, he added.
“Lots happen, lots more to go…With the US, we are in dialogue with them on a BTA,” he said here at an industry chamber event on sustainability.
India and the US have been negotiating the pact since March. So far, five rounds of talks have been completed.
After a 50 per cent duty was imposed from August 27, the US team has deferred its visit to India for the next round of talks, which was scheduled from August 25.
So far, no new dates have been finalised for the sixth round of negotiations.
Amid tensions between India and the US, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that at the end of the day, the two great countries will get this solved. Delhi’s values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s.
Bessent, in an interview with Fox News, also termed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as being largely performative.
His remarks came after the annual summit of the SCO took place in the Chinese port city of Tianjin on Sunday and Monday.
“I think at the end of the day, India is the most populous democracy in the world. Their values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s.”
“I think at the end of the day, two great countries (India and the US) will get this solved. But the Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine,” he claimed.
India has defended its purchase of Russian crude oil, maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics.
Bessent’s comments came in response to questions about the status of the India-US relationship amid the Trump administration’s 50 per cent tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil.
India has termed the tariffs imposed on it as unjustified and unreasonable.
On the India-EU free trade agreement, Goyal said talks are at an advanced stage.
“We are making very active and significant progress,” he said, adding that Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal is in Brussels for talks with EU officials on the pact.
The 13th round of negotiations between India and the EU will begin here on September 8. (PTI)
