Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Goyal said the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement, announced by the two countries’ leaders on February 3, will come into operation once the United States ensures India gets a comparative advantage over competitors in its neighbourhood, the ASEAN region and other competing countries. He said this was the founding basis of the first tranche of the agreement, and once re-established, the deal would move forward.

Goyal noted that India participated in the US Trade Representative’s Section 301 investigation into forced labour concerns, under which the US has imposed a 10 percent tariff on Indian goods. Despite this, he expressed confidence that India would continue growing its exports as long as it maintains comparative advantage or comparable duties relative to competing nations.     Goyal said that as long as India retains a comparative advantage or comparable duty structure, the country will continue to grow its exports and leverage the large opportunity presented by the US market, underscoring the government’s focus on securing favourable trade terms before the bilateral agreement is fully implemented.      The minister’s comments come amid ongoing uncertainty over tariff differentials facing Indian exporters across sectors including textiles, engineering goods and manufactured products, with the eventual implementation of the trade pact expected to influence export volumes, shipping demand and supply chain planning between India and the United States.