Commerce Min Meeting Industry, Exporters On India-US Trade On Sep 1

The Commerce Ministry will meet with industry associations and representatives of export promotion councils on September 1 on India-US trade performance, an official said.

The meeting will be chaired by Additional Secretary in the ministry Darpan Jain. He is also the country's chief negotiator for the India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA).

The deliberation is important as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will visit the US in late September to attend the G-20 Trade Ministerial in Milwaukee and hold bilateral talks with USTR Jamieson Greer. The two-day ministerial will begin on September 30. The United States holds the 2026 G20 presidency.

The official said the meeting is intended to discuss recent trade trends, the overall sector-wise performance of India-US trade, and the recent developments in bilateral trade.

Sectors expected to be represented at the meeting include pharmaceuticals, engineering, textiles, agriculture, chemicals, marine products, leather, automobiles, auto components, handicrafts, and plastics.

Industry chambers CII, FICCI, Assocham and FIEO are also likely to participate in the deliberations.

India and the US are negotiating a bilateral trade agreement. In February, both sides announced the finalisation of the framework for the first phase of the pact, but changes in the US tariff landscape have led to further negotiations between the two countries on the agreement.

Recently, Goyal stated that the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement between India and the US will come into operation as soon as the United States is able to ensure that India gets a comparative advantage over its competitors.

The US has imposed an additional 10% tariff on a number of countries, including India, from July 24.

Countries including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia are major competitors of India in the US market. Tariff advantage vis-à-vis these nations will give price competitiveness to Indian goods in the American market.

India's exports to the US grew marginally to $87.31 billion in 2025-26 from $86.51 billion in the previous fiscal. Imports, on the other hand, rose by 17.16% to $53.45 billion in the last fiscal year from $45.62 billion in 2024-25.

Total trade was up by 6.53% to $140.76 billion in 2025-26 from $132.2 billion in 2024-25. India had a trade surplus of $33.9 billion in the last fiscal year, down from $40.9 billion in 2024-25.

During April-July 2026-27, India's exports to the US rose 3% to $34.5 billion, while imports grew 22.42% to $22.12 billion.

India's exports to the US include electrical machinery and telecom instruments (including smartphones), generic medicines, diamonds, industrial boilers, and cotton textiles. Imports include crude petroleum, liquefied natural gas, coal, metallurgical scrap, precious stones, electronics, and aerospace equipment.