India-US trade deal: New Delhi remains engaged with America to conclude BTA, says MEA
India-US trade talks: New Delhi continue to remain engaged with America to conclude trade deal, says MEA
India-US trade talks: New Delhi continues to remain engaged with America to conclude talks on the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the US, the MEA told reporters on October 30.
MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We continue to remain engaged with the US side to conclude a trade deal, and these discussions are continuing…”
This comes after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the APEC 2025 Summit in South Korea and announced a series of agreements between the countries. The US also announced trade deals with Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand over this week and the last, amid the APEC and ASEAN Summits.
Trade talks progressing in cordial atmosphere: Piyush Goyal
On October 18, Union Commerce minister Piyush Goyal assured that India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) talks are “progressing in a cordial manner”. He however added that there will be “no agreement until interests of the nation — India's farmers, India's fishermen, India's MSME sector are fully addressed.”
“I believe the talks are progressing in a very cordial atmosphere and I have said many times that free trade agreements (FTA) or trade talks are never based on deadlines. There is no agreement unless we fully address the interests of the nation — India's farmers, India's fishermen, India's MSME sector. The talks are progressing very well. The talks are ongoing and we will definitely inform you when we reach a decision,” Goyal said.
‘India’s been very good’, says Donald Trump
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters at the APEC Summit on October 30, Donald Trump again claimed that India has significantly reduced its Russian oil purchases, adding that New Delhi had been “very good” on the issue.
“There's not a lot more we can do. The oil he's [Xi Jinping] been buying from Russia for a long time. It takes care of a big part of China…and I can say India's been very good on that front, but we didn't really discuss the oil. We discussed working together to see if we could get that war finished,” Trump continued.
What does India-US BTA include?
- In February 2025, Donald Trump and PM Narendra Modi directed officials to negotiate a proposed BTA between the two countries, with aim to boost the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 from the current $191 billion.
- Deadline for conclusion of the first tranche of the deal has been set for October-November 2025.
- Till date, five rounds of negotiations have been completed. In September, Goyal himself visited New York with a delegation to further trade talks.
- The talks come amid 50 per cent tariffs imposed on India by the Trump administration, along with the 100 per cent levy on branded and patented pharmaceutical products.