Expressing India’s willingness to expand economic relations with the US, Union Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal said New Delhi is ready to extend its trade ties with Washington in the spirit of reciprocity and equality.
Addressing the 4th Annual Leadership Summit for US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) virtually, Goyal said, “India and the US can be two countries which should be looking at a balance mutual trade of a trillion dollars in the next 10 years.”
“And unless you keep some very ambitious targets we will never get that.” Underlining the importance of India-US ties, Goyal said that both countries have come a long way and are natural and indispensable partners and both need to work together.
Addressing the 4th Annual Leadership Summit of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), Piyush Goyal said though a lot of effort had gone into negotiating a trade agreement between the two countries during the previous US administration, unfortunately it did not work out.
The minister said India is negotiating an early harvest agreement with Australia, “so now it is left to the US and India to engage in a much bigger way. I would urge all of you to also impress upon your administration (that) India is ready and willing to expand our economic partnership in the spirit of reciprocity and equality.”
According to the latest data obtained from the US Trade representative office, India-US bilateral trade in goods and services from 2019 stands at $146.1 billion. Underlining the efforts of the Indian government in upgrading bilateral trade ties, Goyal asserted “we were always forthcoming.” He also pointed out how meetings with Washington and New York-based companies did not offer a fruitful return. “I made a sincere effort. Unfortunately did not work out,” Goyal said.
The current “ambitious target” follows the track laid out by Joe Biden when he was the Vice President of the ex-US President Barack Obama’s administration. During his visit to India in 2012, Biden expressed his vision to make a “five-fold” expansion in India-US trade volume. The bilateral trade then stood at $100 billion.
Now, being a part of the QUAD nations, India sees hope in progressing the interim trade negotiations that were halted mid-way after Trump lost elections in 2020. The trade talks resumed during the bilateral meetings held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden in Washington on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA.)
