India is looking forward to strengthening its economic relationship with the United States by engaging with the incoming Trump administration, India’s trade minister Piyush Goyal told reporters in New Delhi on Friday.
“We are looking forward to a very deep and substantive engagement with the new US administration,” the trade minister said. He noted that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has bolstered bilateral relations with successive U.S. administrations, including those led by Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
Bilateral trade between India and the United States, India’s largest trading partner, exceeded $118 billion in 2023/24, with India registering a trade surplus of $32 billion.
Stronger Economic Cooperation
Industry estimates suggest that trade could grow by an additional $50 billion within two to three years, underscoring significant potential for stronger economic cooperation.
The government and industry groups favour a broader trade and investment pact with the United States to help Indian manufacturers integrate into global supply chains while retaining policy flexibility to safeguard national interests.
Goyal said that India’s goods and services trade is projected to surpass $800 billion in the 2024/25 fiscal year, ending March.
Trump’s Tariff Hikes Threat
While aiming to protect its manufacturers from potential U.S. tariff hikes on its exports, India is exploring ways to strengthen ties with Washington as Trump has threatened tariffs of 60% and other curbs on imports from China.
Trump had threatened India with reciprocal tariffs. He had said, Reciprocal. If they tax us, we tax them the same amount. They tax us. We tax them. And they tax us. Almost in all cases, they’re taxing us, and we haven’t been taxing them.”
Trump has targeted India previously too. He has said India is the “tariff king,” citing high import duties on Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
(with inputs from Reuters)
