Chance to be competitive: Goyal on US tariffs

In first remarks since US President Donald Trump threatened India with reciprocal tariffs, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the occasion presented an opportunity to be more competitive and produce quality products to the mutual benefit of both India and the US.

“We collaborate for human good. I personally think we will have a good and even better relationship with the US and the bottom line is that this is an opportunity for India to expand trade with the US,” Goyal said at a local conclave here.

He said the two nations had set a target to expand bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.

“We look at this opportunity as a way to make India more competitive, fish out quality products, look at mutual concessions and attractive trading conditions that will support growth in the US and India for the shared prosperity of the two nations,” he said, adding that there can be no better negotiator than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Goyal urged Indian industry to be bold, confident and view the present situation as a “golden opportunity to expand their business”.

He said when the US President talks about ‘Making America Great Again’ and PM Modi talks about ‘Making India Great Again’, the mega partnership is termed MEGA.

Goyal added that India and the US complement each other more than they compete with each other.