New Delhi: The Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said that India is in 'active dialogue' with the United States for a free trade agreement.
The Minister said that negotiations are going on with the European Union as well in the national capital for concluding a trade agreement.
Besides, he added, India is also in talks with New Zealand for a trade pact.
"We are in active dialogue with USA and New Zealand," Goyal said at an event of industry body FICCI.
The minister said that India has already concluded trade pacts with Mauritius, EFTA bloc, the UK, UAE and Australia.
Also, the minister said, "We will soon finalise second tranche of trade agreement with Australia". A trade pact with Oman too is expected to be announced soon.
India and Australia have already implemented an interim trade agreement in 2022 and are now negotiating to widen its scope into a comprehensive trade pact.
The US has imposed a 50 percent import duty on Indian goods entering American markets from August 27. It is affecting exports of labour-intensive sectors such as shrimp, textiles, leather and footwear.
India and the US have been negotiating a bilateral trade agreement since March. So far, five rounds of negotiations have been completed. For the sixth round, the US team, which was to visit India last month, deferred their visit.
Trade relations between the two countries have been strained due to the high tariffs.
Sources however said that things are on track.
The two countries in February announced to conclude the first phase of the India-US bilateral trade agreement by fall of 2025.
India and the US are natural partners and teams from both sides are working to conclude negotiations on a bilateral trade deal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday in response to US President Donald Trump's remarks that efforts are on to address "trade barriers" between the two countries.
The exchange between the two leaders on social media is largely seen as part of efforts by both New Delhi and Washington to reset their ties that witnessed increasing stress in the last few weeks after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods.
The US president said he was looking forward to speaking to Modi in the "upcoming weeks" and sounded confident that both sides would be able to seal the proposed trade deal.
"India and the US are close friends and natural partners. I am confident that our trade negotiations will pave the way for unlocking the limitless potential of the India-US partnership," Modi said in a post on X.
The US is India's largest trading partner with a USD 191 billion bilateral trade in goods and services.
America is also the third-largest investor in India, with USD 76.26 billion FDI coming into India during April 2000 and June 2025.
America accounts for 10 percent of the total FDI India has received during the period.
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