India-US trade talks reach plateau, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Oct 6, 2026: Negotiations on the proposed bilateral trade agreement between India and the United States appear to have reached a plateau, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.

Speaking at the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi, Sitharaman said negotiations were still underway but that both sides had reached a stage where further concessions could prove difficult.

“It’s been a hard and very vigorously negotiated agreement. The negotiations are still ongoing,” she said, stressing that both countries remained engaged in the process.

India and the US began negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) in February 2025. After several rounds of talks, the two countries released a framework for an interim trade agreement in February 2026.

Both sides had indicated in recent months that the agreement was close to being finalised. In June, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said the deal was 99 per cent complete, while Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal described it last month as “almost done and dusted”.

Goyal visited the US from September 29 to October 5 for the G20 Trade Ministers’ meeting and held a bilateral meeting with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Following the meeting, Greer said the agreement was “not imminent”. The US Trade Representative’s office said the two countries had identified the key areas that remained unresolved.

Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) founder Ajay Srivastava said tariff-related issues, which remain central to the negotiations, were likely still unresolved.

Under the February framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on Indian goods from 50 per cent to 18 per cent, while India had agreed to reduce or eliminate tariffs on a majority of US products.

However, Srivastava said a subsequent US Supreme Court ruling had affected the basis of the proposed 18 per cent tariff offer.

“The key question is therefore what tariff advantage Washington is now offering in return for India’s concessions. Until that is settled, claims that the deal is nearly complete offer little clarity about its actual status,” he said.