Goyal optimistic about signing first tranche of U.S. trade deal before July 9-OxBig News Network

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food, and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal. File
| Photo Credit: AP

As the clock ticks towards U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘reciprocal tariffs’ to kick in on July 9, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has expressed optimism that India and the U.S. could sign a preliminary or early tranche of a larger trade deal before that date, though he stopped short of confirming a deal would be signed.

“We are in continuous dialogue. I have always been an optimist,” Mr Goyal said in an interview with The Hindu on the fringes of a conference organized by the India Global Forum 2025 in London. 

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“I’m very confident that, given that the US and India are very friendly countries, trusted partners, both wanting to have resilient, reliable, trusted supply chains, both vibrant democracies, we will be able to come up with a win-win for the businesses of both countries,” Mr Goyal added. Failure to sign such a deal would , as things stand, would result in Indian goods entering the U.S. being tariffed at 26% starting in early July.

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Mr Goyal did not comment on whether a deal on the sensitive dairy and agricultural goods sectors would form part of the preliminary tranche of the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) under discussion with the U.S.

“I think negotiations are best left to the negotiators and the negotiating table. We will, of course, inform the media at the right time,” he said.

Mr. Goyal also did not want to comment on the impact of the U.S.’s Trade Promotion Authority, which is a process in the U.S. Congress to delegate authority to the U.S. President to negotiate trade deals, including deals that offer below Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff rates to some trading partners of the U.S.

Earlier, Mr Goyal had participated in a moderated discussion with his U.K. counterpart, Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds. The two countries had announced a free trade agreement on May 6.  Mr Goyal said the UK and India were successful in concluding a deal because the sides had agreed to be sensitive to one another’s concerns, setting aside issues that could not be negotiated easily.

On the India-EU trade talks, Mr Goyal said the sides were looking to conclude a trade deal by the end of this calendar year, when asked whether they would announce a full-scale trade deal or an interim agreement first.

“There’s that famous English phrase…since we are in Great Britain …‘the air is pregnant with possibilities’, he said adding he did not know what size and shape the agreement would have.

On weather the Trump administration’s return to the White House had impacted the speed and direction of India’s trade talks with the E.U., Mr Goyal suggested that third parties did not impact bilateral deals. Last week the E.U.’s foreign minister , Kaja Kallas, had said at a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar that the E.U. was a “reliable, predictable and credible partner for India”. Countries have been seeking to recalibrate their relationship with the U.S. since the return of U.S. President Donald Trump and his ‘America First’ philosophy to the White House.

“I don’t think there’s any impact of any other situation on a negotiation between two countries, because these negotiations are not a short term arrangement. These are like long-term marriages you are negotiating after crystal-gazing … 25 years, 50 years, into the future,” Mr Goyal said.

India wants WTO strengthened

On the relevance of the World Trade Organization given the change in the U.S. administration and its retrenchment from multilateralism, Mr Goyal said the world trade body had an “important” role to play and that India believed “very strongly” in multilateralism.

“[ India ] believes we have to strengthen the WTO over the next few years through dialogue and discussions and will continue to play an increasingly important role to promote multilateralism,” he said.

Tata Steel Not Discussed with the UK

Mr Goyal also said that India had not made an intervention with the U.K. on behalf of Tata Steel which owns the Port Talbot steel plant in south Wales. The plant has had to import raw material from India and Europe following the closure of its blast furnace last year as it prepares to operationalize an electric-arc furnace in 2027. This may mean it runs afoul of the U.S.’s rules on inputs to qualify for any tariff reductions that the U.K. and U.S. agree to. The Trump administration has threatened to fully or partially maintain tariffs of 25% on British steel unless the U.K. provides guarantees on Tata Steel’s inputs, as per a report in the Guardian.

“That, the U.K., has to negotiate with the U.S.,” Mr Goyal said.