- Announcement follows Jaishankar’s remarks on trade deal progress.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said the first tranche of the India-US bilateral trade agreement has been finalised and is undergoing legal drafting. He said both sides hope to complete the process soon, with the agreement to be operationalised once India secures a comparable or competitive advantage over peer countries.
#WATCH | Delhi: Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal says, “…The US bilateral trade agreement’s first tranche has been finalised. It’s going through the final contours, the legal drafting, and we hope to be able to finalize that soon and operationalize it once we get a comparable or competitive advantage over our peer countries…”
— ANI (@ANI) October 15, 2026
Jaishankar Signals Progress On Trade Deal
Goyal’s remarks come a day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India-US trade negotiations were heading towards a “landing point”. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi on Wednesday, Jaishankar said both sides were working to resolve outstanding differences, adding that India’s final decision would also depend on the trade terms secured by competing economies.
“I think we are waiting on a few things. I wouldn’t be comfortable spilling the beans in public. When countries negotiate with an economy like the United States, obviously one part of it is what you work out between yourselves and the US, and one part of it is how do you fare vis-a-vis competitive economies. And that part of it is not entirely clear because not everybody has worked out their deal. I think people, the trade ministers, USTR there and our Commerce and Industry Minister are there working on that. They’re ironing it out.
My sense is that this is an issue which is heading towards a landing point,” Jaishankar said.
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India-US Trade Talks
India and the US agreed on a framework for an interim trade agreement in February 2026, reaffirming their commitment to a wider bilateral trade pact. The negotiations cover areas including market access, tariffs, non-tariff barriers, customs procedures and digital trade.
While the first tranche has now reached the legal drafting stage, the wider agreement remains part of the ongoing trade negotiations between the two countries. Goyal’s latest statement suggests that the government is working towards finalising the text, while ensuring that the terms offer Indian businesses a competitive position in international markets.
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