India-US Trade Deal's First Phase Concluded, Legal Drafting Underway: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi, Oct 16 (KNN) The first phase of the India-US trade agreement has been finalised and is undergoing legal drafting, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.

Speaking at the SRCC Centenary Conclave, Goyal said, “US bilateral trade agreement's first tranche has been finalised, and it is going through final contours, the legal drafting, and we hope to be able to finalise that soon and operationalise that once we get the comparable advantage or competitive advantage over our peer countries,” PTI reported.

The India-European Union free trade agreement was expected to be signed in December and could come into force in February or March next year, he added.

India Seeks Preferential Market Access In US

Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said negotiations were progressing in the right direction.

“Probably we are in a very good zone. We anticipate closing the deal and signing the deal at the earliest possible time,” he told reporters here.

Agrawal noted that the agreement would provide not only market access but also preferential access for Indian goods compared with competing countries.

“So, there is parallel work being done in the US also to get back the tariff structure and based on some of the outcomes under (Section) 301, we will progress towards signing the deal at a mutually agreed time,” the secretary said, as quoted by PTI.

He added that the two sides would also address issues arising from the US Trade Representative's Section 301 investigations, adding that the range of outstanding issues had narrowed over time.

On concerns over excess industrial capacity created through non-market policies, Agrawal noted that India had consistently opposed such practices, which distort markets and undermine global trade.

India-US Trade Surplus Narrows In FY26

India's exports to the US increased 0.92 per cent to USD 87.3 billion in 2025-26, while imports rose 15.95 per cent to USD 52.9 billion.

Consequently, India's trade surplus with the US declined to USD 34.4 billion in 2025-26 from USD 40.89 billion in the previous fiscal year.

The proposed agreement is expected to address tariff-related concerns and improve the competitiveness of Indian exports in the US market.

(KNN Bureau)