India is seeking “preferential access” and the “best possible deal” in its ongoing trade negotiations with the US, said Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday (April 2). He also said that about trade deals with the US, India is in a “very sweet spot” among the emerging economies.
“Our relations are very robust. We have a deep strategic partnership on several aspects, on technology, on defence, on trade and on investments, and our approach is that India should get preferential market access,” Goyal told reporters.
“Being the world’s fastest-growing economy, India holds huge promise for investors who will continue to look at the India opportunity in greater numbers and greater value in the future,” he added.
WTO talks and key outcomes
The minister said that as the world’s fastest-growing major economy, India presents a significant opening for global investors, who are likely to expand their engagement with the country over time.
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Referring to the latest WTO Ministerial meetings, Piyush Goyal described the deliberations as “very intense,” noting that they stretched across four days and covered seven key areas, including WTO reform, fisheries subsidies, investment facilitation, e-commerce, agriculture and wider development issues.
He pointed to several outcomes from the discussions, including a shared understanding among member nations on the need to better integrate smaller economies into the multilateral trading framework.
The focus, he said, was on improving trade logistics, connectivity and border procedures. On fisheries subsidies, Goyal said there had been movement on addressing overcapacity, overfishing and illegal fishing, with participating countries reaching and ratifying a consensus.
Fisheries and agriculture stance
Goyal said negotiations in this area would continue. “There is recognition of the need for transition periods for developing countries like India,” he said, adding that there is a need to support the expansion of deep-sea fishing while also improving the earnings of fishing communities, reported YEARS.
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On agriculture, he reiterated India’s position. “We have consistently called for a permanent solution on public stockholding, along with special safeguard mechanisms,” Goyal said, adding that pending WTO mandates require urgent attention.
Bilateral engagements and timeline
The remarks come days after Goyal, on March 27, held a meeting with the US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Yaounde, Cameroon and discussed the next steps in the India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) negotiations. The two met on the sidelines of the 14th ministerial conference (MC14) of the World Trade Organisation.
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In February, the two countries announced that they had finalised a framework for the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement. It has not yet been signed.
India and the US announced a trade deal on February 2. A joint statement for the same was released on February 7. According to the framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18 per cent.
Tariff shifts and negotiation delay
However, the tariff architecture in the US has changed following its Supreme Court ruling against President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. After that, the US President imposed 10 per cent tariffs on all countries for 150 days from February 24.
In view of these changes, a meeting of the chief negotiators of India and the US has been postponed. They were scheduled to meet in February to finalise the legal text of the pact.
(With agency inputs)
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