India-US trade deal on track, says Piyush Goyal, dismissing delay reports
There is some absolutely baseless report circulating from today morning... which you should trash, he said
Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Friday dismissed the reports indicating that India is planning to hold off trade deal with the US for several months, reported news agencies.
Speaking at NXT Summit 2026 in New Delhi, Goyal said, “There is some absolutely baseless report circulating from today morning... which you should trash. There is absolutely no basis in it at all. We have a very good trade agreement with the US.”
Goyal stated that both India and the US would benefit from the agreement. “We have been able to protect all our sensitive sectors like agriculture. India’s interests have been safeguarded like no GM products, no rice, no corn, no maize, no soya bean and no dairy or poultry either. It is a very powerful agreement, it is great for both India and America as every trade deal should be,” he said.
The Commerce Minister further emphasised how the agreement would benefit India in the long run. “The deal also helps us get the best of technologies from America so that we can become the data centre of the world and can have large investments post the successful AI Summit,” he said.
Earlier, officials of the Commerce Ministry stated that there is no delay in bilateral engagement and that India and the US are still working toward a mutually beneficial trade agreement.
A framework for an interim agreement on reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade was reached between the US and India last month. It reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the wider US-India Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) negotiations, which were started on February 13, 2025, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump. BTA will support more robust supply chains and include additional market access commitments.
