India-US Trade Talks: Goyal Returns from Washington

New Delhi, Mar 8 (PTI) Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday returned from Washington after holding trade talks with his US counterparts, an official said.

During his week-long visit, Goyal held talks with US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

These deliberations assume significance as India and the US are planning to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement, the official said.

During the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, India and the US announced their commitment to more than double the two-way commerce to USD 500 billion by 2030 and negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall of 2025.

US President Donald Trump on Friday said that India has agreed to cut its tariffs way down as he reiterated his claim that the country charges America massive tariffs that make it difficult to sell products there.

Commerce Secretary Lutnick too has pitched for a macro, large and grand trade agreement with India, and not 'product-by-product' arrangement.

He said India needs to open its agriculture market, emphasising that it can not be 'off the table' when the country is negotiating with its largest trading partner.

In 2023, the US-India bilateral trade in goods and services stood at USD 190.08 billion (USD 123.89 billion in goods and USD 66.19 billion in services trade). That year, India's merchandise exports to the US stood at USD 83.77 billion, while imports were USD 40.12 billion, leaving a trade gap of USD 43.65 billion in favour of India.

The country's services export to America was USD 36.33 billion in 2023, while imports were aggregated at USD 29.86 billion. The trade gap (difference between imports and exports) was USD 6.47 billion in favour of New Delhi.

During 2021-24, America was the largest trading partner of India. The US is one of the few countries with which India has a trade surplus.

In 2023-24, the US was the largest trading partner of India with USD 119.71 billion bilateral trade in goods (USD 77.51 billion worth of exports, USD 42.19 billion of imports, with USD 35.31 billion trade surplus).

India has received USD 67.8 billion in foreign direct investments from America during April 2000 and September 2024.