commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that the announcement of a trade deal with the US has provided a lot of confidence to businesses on both sides. Goyal: The agreement can help strengthen economic ties by leveraging the competitive strengths of the two countries. Last week, PM Modi and US president Donald Trump agreed to atrade deal while also seeking to target bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. In 2023, the US and India bilateral trade in goods and services was estimated at $190 billion ($124 billion goods and $66 billion services trade), according to the Indian government’s estimates. The decision to engage in negotiations comes amid Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs against countries which impose higher customs duty on American goods than what the US levies. Trump has attacked India and said that govt maintains very high tariffs on imports. India will seek to push for lower import duties on some of its labour-intensive products such as textiles and leather, while allowing more import of American oil, gas and defence equipment to bridge the trade deficit.
