‘False’, ‘baseless’: Piyush Goyal, Sergio Gor reject news report claiming India rejected quick trade agreement with US
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor on Tuesday rejected a news report which claimed that India has rejected a quick trade agreement with the US
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor on Tuesday rejected a news report which claimed that India has rejected a quick trade agreement with the US and is now holding out for a better deal. "Fake news alert! No one has rejected anything. Both sides had very constructive meetings and reaffirmed their commitment to finalizing a trade deal. We continue to stay actively engaged," Gor said in a post on social media platform X. Addressing Reuters, the news agency which published report, Gor said, "Reuters - you can do better!" The news agency had published an analysis titled "An emboldened India holds out for better terms in US trade talks", in which it made the claim citing officials and analysts. Goyal rejects claims India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal also rejected the claims made in the report, saying in an X post, "This news is completely false, baseless and misleading." "I had fantastic meetings with USTR Jamieson Greer, @USTradeRep, when he visited Delhi in June.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to an agreement that is balanced, commercially meaningful, and delivers tangible benefits for businesses, farmers, workers, and consumers in both countries," Goyal said, adding, "Our teams remain fully engaged in achieving this objective." Indian Trade Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, the top official in the ministry, said: "The framework deal is ready, whenever it is the right time, it will be signed". What the Reuters analysis claimed Reuters on Monday claimed that the "two nations failed to finalise an interim trade agreement during US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer's visit to New Delhi last month, despite expectations from both sides that a limited deal was within reach." "There was no consensus because Washington did not offer assurances on New Delhi's key demands: a tariff advantage over competitors such as China and no new US levies after the deal," the report said, citing an Indian government official aware of the talks.
"Our position is clear - we don't intend to rush into a deal that is not on favourable terms or compromise on red lines like ceding ground on agriculture," Reuters quoted said official as saying. The agency also cited a US source aware of the talks to claim that Washington views that India has to earn the preferential treatment it seeks on trade provisions by making its own concessions. The two Indian and US sources the report is based on did not wish to be named, the agency said, since the negotiations are confidential. US tariffs on India Like most countries, Indian goods entering the US now attract a tariff of 10%. However, the Trump government is expected to introduce steeper tariffs later this month as it probes excess industrial capacities. India has denied charges of such surplus capacity, Reuters reported. Washington has proposed tariffs of up to 12.5% on dozens of nations, which includes India, over allegations that they have failed to curb trade in goods that have been made using forced labour.
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