India-US finalize most elements of first phase of BTA, now focus on minor issues: Piyush Goyal

Indicating that talks on the India-US trade agreement are in final stage, the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India and US have finalised most elements of the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA), and negotiations are now focused on a few minor issues. He added that the US team is in India to hold talks on finalising the first phase of the BTA. The talk will focus on finalizing the legal text for the deal. The commerce ministry noted that two sides are proposed to finalise the details of the interim agreement and take forward the negotiations under the broader BTA on multiple areas, such as market access, non-tariff measures, customs and trade facilitation, investment promotion, and economic security alignment.

India and US had finalized framework of the first phase of the BTA or an interim trade agreement in February 7, 2026. Under this framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18% from 50%. It had removed the 25% tariffs on Indian goods for buying Russian oil and was to cut the remaining 25% to 18% under the pact. However, the US Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs, which were imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). This led to a uniform 10% tariff on all US trading partners, which ended India comparative advantage under the framework over its competitor countries.

In 2025-2026, the US was the second largest trading partner of India. During the period, the India’s exports to the US grew marginally by 0.92% to $87.3 billion during the last fiscal year. Further, India’s imports from US have increased 15.95% to $52.9 billion in 2025-2026. The country’s trade surplus with US declined to $34.4 billion in 2025-26 from $40.89 billion in 2024-25.