India-US trade deal | Piyush Goyal vows 'agriculture, dairy interests are safe' as pact nears finish

New Delhi: A day after US President Donald Trump announced that India and the US have agreed to a trade deal, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said the agreement is in its final stages of detailing and reiterated that interests of sensitive sectors like agriculture and dairy would be protected.

“Today 140 crore Indians are celebrating a trade deal, which is under final stages of detailing between the negotiating teams of both countries,” Goyal told reporters.

He said a joint statement would be issued by the two countries after finalisation of the details.

Amid political slugfest over Trump’s claim regarding India agreeing to cut tariffs on American products to zero, Goyal emphasised that New Delhi will protect the interests of its farmers.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump on Monday announced that India and the US have agreed to a trade deal under which US will cut tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent while India will reduce “tariff and non-tariff barriers against the US to zero”.

The announcement was made following a phone call between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

US Secretary for Agriculture Brooke Rollins indicated that India has agreed to allow import of American agricultural goods.

“The new US-India deal will export more American farm products to India’s massive market, lifting prices and pumping cash into rural America,” Rollins said in a social media post.

Opposition parties criticised the government over the deal saying it would compromise national interest.

“Narendra Modi ji has sold your (farmers’) hard work in this trade deal because he is compromised. He has sold the country,” Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament.

Goyal termed Rahul Gandhi’s statement negative and misleading.

“They are asking why the US President announced tariff cuts first, but if the US had applied such tariffs on us, obviously they will announce it first,” the minister said referring to the Opposition leader’s charge about Trump dictating the trade deal.

According to the minister, labour-intensive sectors like textiles, apparel, leather, footwear, gems & jewellery, engineering goods and marine will be the main gainers.