Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal reiterated that India will not compromise on the interests of farmers, dairy workers, and other stakeholders in trade deals. Talking about the progress on the India-US trade deal, the Minister also added that India is looking for new markets, such as Russia, for the country’s fishery sector, which is facing issues due to the steep tariffs in the US.
“We are working for a good trade deal. India is not going to compromise with the interests of farmers, dairy workers… We are working on a fair, equitable and balanced trade deal,” he said at Udyog Samagam 2025 on Tuesday.
Speaking on the timeline of the deal between the two countries, Goyal said, “This trade deal can happen tomorrow, it can happen next month, it can happen next year… but as a government we are preparing for any contingency.”
India-US trade deal in near term?
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump said that India and the US are getting close to a trade deal. He added that the United States plans to reduce tariffs on Indian imports at some point.
The United States had doubled the tariff on indian products in August, citing the purchase of Russian oil. The trade talks between the two countries are going. The key issue that remains to be resolved is agriculture and dairy products ,and petroleum imports from Russia
US-India at WTO
In the recent development of the India-US tussle over copper duties, the US stated that India’s communication to the World Trade Organisation, reserving the right to impose reciprocal duties in response to its 50 per cent tariff on copper products, has no basis under the rules of the global trade watchdog.
The United States stated in its response that it did not impose tariffs on copper under the Trade Act of 1974, the law under which safeguard measures are imposed, but rather the duties were applied under a national security law.
Earlier, on October 30, India notified the WTO that it reserves the right to suspend concessions or other obligations under relevant articles of the Agreement on Safeguards that are substantially equivalent to copper duties on India’s trade.