Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the proposed India-U.S. trade agreement would be a “very fair and equitable" deal, while explaining the final “1 per cent" of negotiations that still needs to be resolved before the pact can be concluded.
Speaking about the negotiations, Goyal said the most challenging aspect for the Indian team was dealing with the time difference between New Delhi and Washington. Even so, he said the talks were conducted in a positive atmosphere and highlighted the strong working relationship he shared with his U.S. counterparts, according to NDTV.
India and the United States formally launched negotiations for a comprehensive Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) in February 2025. While the treaty has not yet been signed, officials from both countries have said the agreement is 99 per cent complete, with only the remaining 1 per cent left to be settled.
“It’s a very fair, very equitable deal. It’s a deal that gives us preferential access to the United States market, and free trade agreements are all about preferential access… For us, the primary factor in the free trade deal is to get a preference over all our competitors, our neighbours, the Southeast Asian countries, and that’s the lens through which every country in the world has looked at it," Goyal said while speaking at the next chapter in the India-Japan partnership, NDTV reported.
Explaining what he described as the remaining “1 per cent link", the commerce minister said that even advanced economies such as the UK, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea evaluate such agreements based on comparative benefits, competitive advantage and market access.
Asked whether the negotiations with the United States involved any “nightmare" moments, Goyal said there was one challenge, though he described the overall process as a “joyous and very learning experience".
“The only nightmare part of it is that the time difference is such that at times we have to stay awake at night, but you know I sleep very late. So for me, that was also not very difficult. My staff and my team may have had some difficulty as negotiations often went on till late in the evening," Goyal said, according to NDTV.
He added that Indian officials maintained a “very good" working relationship with their American counterparts throughout the discussions and said the negotiations were conducted without any stress.
“I have had fabulous relations with both my counterparts there," he said.
The proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement has entered its final phase, U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said on Tuesday, indicating that only a handful of issues remain before the pact is finalised.
“We are in the final steps on this deal. Most of this deal is complete. There’s a few items that remain on both sides. It’s in the last 1% of that deal", Gor said at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Leadership Summit in Washington.
The ambassador said the agreement would be a “win-win" for both countries and voiced confidence that it would provide greater certainty and stability for businesses operating in India and the United States.
