Rajesh Agrawal, Secretary of Commerce; File |Photograph Credit score: The Hindu
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal stated India and america are “very shut” to an preliminary commerce settlement on reciprocal tariffs, however declined to offer a deadline.
Concerning negotiations with the European Union, Agrawal stated either side are within the ultimate levels and the one points remaining are these on which either side have disagreements, that are being step by step resolved.
“On the India-US commerce settlement, we’ve held six rounds of formal negotiations and have mentioned each a full-fledged bilateral commerce settlement, for which we signed phrases of reference in March, and an interim framework settlement that will enable us to handle reciprocal tariffs,” Agrawal stated at a press convention.
“We’re very near a minimum of agreeing on a framework and we expect we are able to get it performed in a brief time frame, however we do not need to set a deadline,” he added.
Concerning negotiations with the European Union (EU) on a free commerce settlement, the Commerce Secretary stated the 2 sides have constantly narrowed their variations.
“What occurs when an settlement is reached is that there’s a set of variations on the desk that can’t be agreed upon,” Agrawal stated. “Every assembly helps cut back these discrepancies. Our crew is engaged on some difficulty day by day.”
“I am not saying there will probably be any formal rounds to any extent further, however there’ll proceed to be bodily and digital conferences to maneuver this in direction of a conclusion,” he defined.
Concerning negotiations with the Eurasian Financial Union (EAEU), which incorporates Russia, Agrawal stated that though negotiations had been nonetheless at an early stage, the following spherical of negotiations was proposed to be held in February 2026.
“We performed the fourth spherical with New Zealand in November 2025, which was the official spherical,” he stated. “There have since been some digital in addition to bodily conferences. We’re in a great place and we count on (the FTA) to be signed and finalized quickly.”
“For the India-Chile FTA, the fourth spherical was held in early December and we’re on observe,” Agrawal stated. “Now we have additionally made progress with Peru, however it isn’t on the identical degree as Chile.”
