Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday stated that India and the United States have been making steady progress with negotiations towards a bilateral trade agreement that the two countries had considered. According to Goyal, talks were still on with regard to finalising details and the deal might finally be signed once India gets the comparative advantage that had been agreed on earlier.
Goyal made the statement while addressing the ET Startup Awards 2026 in Bengaluru. The minister talked about India-US trade relationship as well as the effect that tightening of US visa regime might have on India’s tech industry.
Goyal noted that tightening of the visa regime would open up possibilities for India through making skilled workers stay in the country, and thus would encourage foreign firms to move their tech operations to Indian cities creating job opportunities and developing the start-ups.
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The remarks by Goyal came days after the US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had pointed out that signing a trade agreement was not imminent. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also indicated that talks had stalled.
India-US Trade Deal Latest News: Piyush Goyal Says Talks Continue
According to Goyal, India and the US are trying to work out the remaining points of the trade deal. As per Goyal, India is waiting for the US to give the comparative advantage that both the countries had discussed in February.
“As per what US itself has said, it doesn’t have anything more to add or offer, and it is fine print that is now being sorted out,” Goyal stated in his speech at the Awards. “The crux of the matter is that how will the US give us the comparative advantage that we had agreed to in February? It involves legal expertise, which artificial intelligence does not have, since this is beyond the textbooks. This is where we are now,” he further added.
These statements of Goyal show that both parties have moved towards solving the legal and technical matters of the proposed deal. However, it does not mean that both have come to any conclusion regarding the final deal or its timeline yet.
Both the countries are still in the process of discussing so as to reach a final settlement on their differences.
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