India’s envoy Sandhu discusses trade ties with US Commerce Secretary as part of broader strategic partnership

India’s US Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu has met US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and underscored the importance of bilateral commercial relationship and their commitment to growing business ties in support of the broader strategic relationship.

The meeting here on Monday came days after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said hopes of an India-US trade pact are off the table for now.

Sandhu and Raimondo discussed the US-India commercial relationship, according to a statement issued by the US Department of Commerce.

“During their meeting, Secretary Raimondo and Ambassador Sandhu underscored the importance of this commercial relationship and their commitment to growing business ties in support of the broader strategic relationship,” it said.

They also discussed scheduling the US-India CEO Forum and US-India Commercial Dialogue and the rescheduling of the US-India High Technology Cooperation Group meeting, it said.

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Sandhu and Raimondo also discussed US-India technology collaboration and improving digital economy policies to strengthen that collaboration, the statement added.

Following Goyal's remarks on the Indo-US trade agreement, Ambassador Atul Keshap, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in New Delhi spoke to the Indian minister for over two hours on August 20, discussing trade between the two countries.

"I had a very spirited exchange of views with Commerce Minister @PiyushGoyal about how #USIndia trade can and should attain the USD 500 billion vision set by @Potus. Across our 2+ hour discussion we agreed that our great democracies should work more closely to advance our mutual prosperity," Keshap tweeted.

Goyal while speaking at an industry event in Mumbai on August 19 said that hopes of an India-US trade pact are off the table for now, with the Joe Biden administration conveying to India that it is not interested in a free trade agreement.

"The US as of now has kind of indicated that they are not looking for new trade agreements, but we look at working with them for more market access issues on both sides and I think that would also be a big relief and a big opportunity opener for our export sector," he had said.

According to the data of the commerce ministry, in 2020-21, the trade between the US and India dropped to USD 80.5 billion as compared to USD 88.9 billion in 2019-20.