The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday said the proposed India-US trade agreement seeks to lower tariff and non-tariff barriers, expand market access, and strengthen supply chain integration. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that discussions between both sides are focused on boosting two-way trade in goods and services while ensuring a mutually beneficial agreement.
“During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States last month, both sides announced that they will engage and negotiate a multi-sector bilateral trade agreement,” Jaiswal said. Responding to a question regarding the Trump administration’s remarks on retaliatory tariffs against India, Jaiswal also highlighted Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s recent visit to the US as part of ongoing efforts to advance the agreement.
“The two governments are in the process of advancing discussions on a multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement. Through the BTA, our objective is to strengthen and deepen India-US two-way trade in the goods and services sector, increase market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration between the two countries,” he added.
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US President Trump Calls India “Very High Tariff Nation”
The MEA’s remarks come after US President Donald Trump has reiterated that India is a “very high tariff nation” and emphasised that reciprocal tariffs on countries imposing levies on American goods will take effect from 2 April.
“And the big one will be on April 2, when reciprocal tariffs, so if India or China, or any of the countries that really… India is a very high tariff nation,” Trump said at the Oval Office on Thursday while signing executive orders, as quoted by news agency PTI.
Comparing India’s tariffs with those of Canada, Trump remarked, “I’ll tell you what’s a high tariff nation—it’s Canada. Canada charges us 250% for our milk product and other products, and a tremendous tariff with lumber and things as such. And yet we don’t need their lumber. We have more lumber than they do.”
Trump stated that while current tariffs are “temporary and small,” the upcoming reciprocal tariffs would be a “big game changer” for the US.
“Because we’ve been ripped off by every country in the world, and now whatever they charge us—they charge us 150-200%—we charge them nothing. So whatever they charge us, we’re going to charge them, and there’ll be no getting out of it,” he asserted.
This marked the second time in two days that Trump has criticised India’s tariffs. In his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, his first since beginning his second term in office, he termed India’s tariff policies “very unfair” and announced that reciprocal tariffs would be implemented next month.
“If you don’t make your product in America, however, under the Trump administration, you will pay a tariff and, in some cases, a rather large one. Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it’s our turn to start using them against those other countries,” Trump had said in his address.
He further added, “On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Canada—have you heard of them?—and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It’s very unfair. India charges us auto tariffs higher than 100%.”
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India-US Trade Relationship
Trump has previously called India a “tariff king and a big abuser.” During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi at the White House last month, he had remarked that India had “been very strong on tariffs.”
“I don’t blame them necessarily, but it’s a different way of doing business. It’s very hard to sell into India because they have trade barriers, very strong tariffs,” he had stated.
Trump also pointed to the US trade deficit with India, which he estimated at nearly USD 100 billion. He said he and Modi had agreed to begin negotiations to address the “long-running disparities” in the US-India trading relationship with the goal of signing an agreement.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is currently in Washington for trade talks with his US counterpart, Howard Lutnick.
According to US estimates, the total trade in goods between the US and India stood at USD 129.2 billion in 2024. US goods exports to India were valued at USD 41.8 billion in 2024, marking a 3.4% increase (USD 1.4 billion) from 2023. Meanwhile, US imports from India totalled USD 87.4 billion in 2024, reflecting a 4.5% rise (USD 3.7 billion) compared to 2023. The US goods trade deficit with India stood at USD 45.7 billion in 2024, an increase of 5.4% (USD 2.4 billion) from the previous year.
