US trade talks on, says Goyal as Navarro slams PM-Putin-Xi bonhomie

Amidst the ongoing friction in the India-US trade ties in the backdrop of 50 per cent tariffs slapped by President Donald Trump’s administration on Indian goods, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday asserted that India was in dialogue with the US for a bilateral trade agreement.

“We are in a dialogue with them for a bilateral trade agreement,” Goyal said, adding that India was always open to a fair, equitable and mutually beneficial trade agreement. He also stated that India’s free trade agreements with Oman, Chile, Peru and the EU were currently in an advanced stage.

Goyal’s remarks on the India-US trade talks came hours after President Trump’s Trade Adviser Peter Navarro criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bonhomie with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the SCO summit.

“It was a shame to see Modi getting in bed as the leader of the biggest democracy in the world with the two biggest authoritarian dictators in the world — Putin and Xi Jinping. That doesn’t make any sense,” Navarro said as the India-US ties are passing through their worst phase in over two decades.

“I’m not sure what he (Modi) is thinking, particularly since India has been in a cold war and sometimes a hot war with China for decades. So we hope that the Indian leader comes around to seeing that he needs to be with us and Europe and Ukraine and not with Russia on this and he needs to stop buying the oil.”

Amidst the friction, some sort of positivity came with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressing the hope that the two countries would resolve the ongoing tensions. In an interview with Fox News, Bessent said, “I think at the end of the day, India is the most populous democracy in the world. Their values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s. I think at the end of the day, two great countries (India and the US) will get this solved. But the Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine”.

The Trump administration announced 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods following five rounds of failed talks to make a positive outcome in the bilateral trade agreement, announced in February. The agreement was announced with an objective to double the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. The sixth round of negotiations, scheduled for August 25-29, was delayed following the US President’s 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods — 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs and 25 per cent over buying Russian oil. Disagreements over market access, particularly in India’s agriculture and dairy sectors, and the US demand to halt Russian oil imports have delayed the progress.

The US tariffs are projected to impact $48.2 billion worth of Indian exports to the US, particularly from labour-intensive sector such as textile, machinery, gems and jewellery. Last year, India exported goods worth $86.5 billion dollars to the US.

The Indian Government had termed the tariffs “unjustified and unfair”, and stated that it would take all necessary actions to protect its national interests.

On the trade agreement with the EU, Goyal said “we are making very active and significant progress” and added that Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal was in Brussels for talks and a trade delegation of the EU would come to India for talks next week. “European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic is coming to New Delhi on September 12 to advance talks further,” the minister said.