Hope to sign a joint statement on India-US trade deal in 4 to 5 days, says Piyush Goyal

The agreement aims for implementation by mid-March, enhancing India's export opportunities, especially in labor-intensive sectors.

India and the US are working on a joint statement detailing the contours of the trade deal announced on Monday and it is expected in the next four-five days or sooner, followed by an executive order in another two days to reduce tariffs on Indian merchandise from 50% to 18%.

According to Union Minister Piyush Goyal, the executive order is expected to be issued two days after the joint statement. (PTI file photo)

Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal and commerce secretary Rajesh Agrawal laid out the contours of the high-profile deal that was first announced by US President Donald Trump earlier this week, concluding nearly a year-long negotiation process.

Goyal also said the formal agreement is likely to be signed by the middle of March.

“Very fruitful discussions are underway between India and the United States of America, as decided by our two leaders. Our first tranche of bilateral trade agreement [BTA] is almost ready. We hope that in the next four to five days we will finalise and sign a joint statement between the United States of America and India, and the process will begin based on that joint statement,” Goyal replied in Hindi after reporters asked about the Indo-US trade deal after a joint press conference with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) officials in New Delhi.

The minister said a joint statement will be issued soon, which may lead to the US reducing 25% reciprocal tariff, and 25% punitive levy for India purchasing sanctioned Russian oil (total 50%), to 18%. After that a formal draft agreement will be finalised, which is expected to be signed by New Delhi and Washington in mid-March.

He said that the reduced US tariff of 18% will come into effect soon after the US’ executive order, post the joint statement. According to the minister, the executive order is expected to be issued two days after the joint statement. “The joint statement could be ready in four to five days, or even sooner. You know, we’ve done everything quickly. Speed is our USP,” he said.

The move will immediately help India’s over $30 billion labour-intensive exports, such as textiles, apparel, leather goods, footwear, marine products and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), people aware of the development said, requesting anonymity.

Agrawal, who was also present in the press conference for India-GCC ToR signing, said, the joint statement is a standard procedure. “After the deal has been finalised at the leaders’ level,… [a] joint statement will come as the Hon’ble Minister pointed out in the next maximum four to five days. It can happen early, as the Hon’ble Minister has indicated,” he said.

“Once the joint statement is there, that joint statement needs to be converted into a legal agreement. That legal agreement will come into force,” he said, adding that the expected timeline is mid-March. “The legal agreement will give us the authority to reduce our tariffs. Because on the Indian side, the tariff reduction is only after the legal agreement,” he said. While the US tariffs have been levied through EOs, India’s tariffs are MFN tariffs, therefore, any reduction would take place only after the legal agreement has been signed, he said.

HT on Wednesday reported that the India-US trade deal exempts Indian dairy and “sensitive” agriculture items from its ambit, provides for zero-duty access to over $40 billion worth of Indian goods, and reduces customs duties on labor-intensive Indian merchandise. The report, quoting US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer, said India had agreed to reduce tariffs on US exports and that India’s industrial goods tariffs will go to zero from 13.5%. “India is maintaining some protection around agricultural goods,” he had said.

In the press conference, Goyal added that “we hope to do things fast because there are further concessions that we will get after the legal agreement”.

About the $500 billion purchase that Trump mentioned in his announcement of the deal, the minister said that with the fast-paced growth at which India was going ahead, the country will need large volumes of energy, data center equipment, and ICT products.

“Our steel capacity is going to double from today’s 140 million tonnes to about 300 million tonnes in the next few years. And therefore, when we estimated what we will need from the USA, we came to a figure of at least 500 billion dollars. We can clearly see before our eyes the potential that we can procure from the US over the next five years,” Goyal said.

On India’s aircraft demand, he said, “orders placed on Boeing and yet to be placed but ready, are nearly 70-80 billion dollars. If you add the engines and other spare parts, it will probably cost 100 billion dollars.” He added that for data centers, huge concessions were announced in the Union Budget.

“Now imagine if we get 100-150 billion dollars of investments in data centers, we will obviously need equipment for those data centers,” he said.

Mentioning the February 2025 joint statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump that envisaged $500 billion bilateral trade by 2030, the minister said, “If we have to achieve that, we will certainly need to do a lot more exports and a lot more sourcing, both between the USA and India.”