The much-awaited India-US trade deal has cleared its first phase and moved to the legal drafting stage, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.He said that the pact would be operationalised once India gains a competitive advantage over its peer countries. The minister further expressed hope that the process would be completed soon.“US bilateral trade agreement’s first tranche has been finalised and it is going through final contours, the legal drafting and we hope to be able to finalise that soon and operationalise that once we get the competitive advantage over our peer countries,” Goyal said.The minister also provided an update on India’s trade negotiations with the European Union, saying that the free trade agreement would be signed in December and is expected to take effect in February or March next year.Earlier in the day, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor also said that the two nations have cleared the major items on their trade deal checklist. Gor described the pace of negotiations as “incredible.”Gor also spoke about the US legislation that could pave the way for sanctions on countries purchasing Russian oil and gas or helping others evade sanctions. He said US President Donald Trump was expected to decide on the matter within the next 10 days.The legislation received 86 votes in the 100-member US Senate and gives the President the authority to impose sanctions on countries involved in buying Russian oil and gas or facilitating sanctions evasion. Gor said the provisions were not aimed at any particular country, including India.“…We have ongoing discussions on that as it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. That law got 86 votes out of 100 in our Senate… These sanctions options that Congress passed, they are not targeted at any individual country. It is three different buckets; one is oil, the second is gas, the third is sanctions evasion.”Explaining how countries could fall within the scope of the measures, Gor said their inclusion was based on numbers. He added that India was among several countries that fell into one of the categories, but said the intention was to end the war rather than punish any country.“It just happens that India does fall in one of those buckets, along with a lot of other countries. The goal is not to punish anyone. The goal is to try to bring an end to this war. I do think the president will make a determination on that over the next few days.”Gor said India offered significant opportunities for American businesses, citing the size of its market and the government’s approach to foreign investment.India and the US have been negotiating a proposed bilateral trade agreement since early 2025, seeking to address tariff-related tensions, remove non-tariff barriers and improve market access. India is also pushing for more favourable tariff terms for its exports to the US than those available to competing economies.
