India-US interim trade deal inches closer as Goyal holds talks with USTR Greer
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said he held a "productive discussion" with United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Wednesday, as the two countries work towards an early conclusion of an interim trade agreement.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the G-20 Trade Ministers' meeting in Milwaukee, about 1,200 km from Washington, D.C. Mr. Goyal said the talks focused on the "early conclusion of a mutually beneficial interim agreement under the India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement."
"Had a productive discussion with USTR Greer towards early conclusion of a mutually beneficial interim agreement under the India-US Bilateral Trade Agreement," he said in a post on X.
The Minister said he also exchanged views with Mr. Greer on the G-20 deliberations being held under the United States' presidency of the grouping.
The meeting came on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump held a telephone conversation to review progress in bilateral cooperation across trade, defence, energy, critical technologies and other areas of mutual interest.
Where the talks stand
India and the United States announced in February the finalisation of the framework for the first phase of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). Changes in the tariff landscape in the United States have since led to further negotiations on the pact.
On September 24, Mr. Goyal said the trade pact between the two countries was "done and dusted" and would be executed once the United States gave India the right competitive advantage over its competitors in the American market.
India's competitors in the US market include ASEAN countries, China and Bangladesh.
Mr. Goyal's statement on Wednesday did not specify a timeline for concluding the interim agreement, nor the areas it would cover.
What an interim agreement involves
An interim agreement is a partial arrangement that covers a limited set of trade issues while the two sides continue to negotiate a fuller pact. Such arrangements are common in trade diplomacy, allowing countries to lock in gains on issues where there is agreement while talks continue on more difficult questions.
Interim deals typically address tariffs on selected goods and ease some market-access requirements, leaving contentious sectors for a later stage. For India, an immediate priority is to secure terms that keep its exports competitive against those of rival suppliers in the US market.
The United States is one of India's largest trading partners, and the two sides have been negotiating a trade agreement for several years. Both governments have set ambitious goals for expanding two-way trade, and the BTA is presented as the main vehicle for achieving them.
The wider setting
Trade ministers of the G-20 economies are meeting in Milwaukee at a time when several major economies are reviewing their tariff policies. The United States holds the presidency of the grouping for the current cycle, which gives it a leading role in shaping the agenda of the discussions.
Officials have not indicated when the next round of India-US talks will be held. Both governments have described the negotiations as aimed at an outcome that benefits both sides, though the details of what an interim deal would contain have not been made public.
What happens next will depend on how quickly the two sides can settle the remaining issues, including the terms of market access for Indian goods in the United States. For now, both governments are signalling that the talks are moving forward.
