India-US look to strengthen trade, reduce tariff barriers through mutual Bilateral Trade Agreement, says MEA

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States, last month, both the sides announced plans to negotiate a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) which is mutually beneficial, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on  Friday.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also visited the United States and met his counterparts.

The two governments are in the process of advancing discussions on a multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement, said MEA spokesperson.

Read more: Modi-Trump meeting highlights: PM Modi concludes US visit, defence and tech emerge as key talk points

“Our objective through the BTA is to strengthen and deepen India-US two-way trade across goods and services sector, increase market access, reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and deepen supply chain integration between the two countries,” MEA spokesperson Jaiswal reiterated the objectives mentioned in the joint-statement released by India and US after the discussions of Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump.

PM Modi visited United States in February 2025 and held key discussions with President Trump regarding India-US trade agreements and tariff retaliation concerns posed by Trump’s administration.

Regarding Piyush Goyal’s visit to the United States to further discuss the trade negotiations, the MEA spokesperson told reporters that he does not have complete details of discussions held.

Read more: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal set to begin US visit for bilateral trade talks

“I don’t have the complete details of his engagements but he did meet his counterparts to take forward the mutual discussions on trade, tariffs and other issues,” Jaiswal said, adding that issues have been discussed and more will be seen in the coming days, in which direction the discussions will go.

“The technical details of the meeting will be shared by the relevant ministry when time is appropriate,” Jaiswal concluded.

The two nations agreed upon a number of technological and defence trade deals. India lowered down the tariffs on Scotch whiskey to 100% from 150%. United States seeks lowering down of tariffs by India on its pharmaceutical exports.

Read more: Donald Trump calls India ‘very high tariff nation’, reciprocal US tariffs from April 2

The two countries announced partnerships in the sectors of defence industrial cooperation and establishment of manufacturing units in both the countries.

India-US agreed to increase participation in the space sector with NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) project. Designed to provide insights into our planet’s dynamic surface, NISAR will use advanced synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology to create highly detailed maps of surface changes, offering critical data for monitoring natural disasters, glacial movements, and environmental changes.