India, US close to trade deal
India and the US are closing in on a trade deal after almost two years of negotiations.
Commerce minister Piyush Goyal said the two countries should look at a preferential trade pact covering 50 to 100 products and services before moving to a free trade agreement.
“I believe we will have a quick trade deal, which has some of the pending matters built up over the last couple of years, which we need to get out of the way quickly. We are almost there,” Goyal said at the US-India Business Council’s India Ideas Summit.
The agreement envisages the two countries giving each other access to a wide range of products and will possibly restore the zero tariffs enjoyed by Indian exporters on a wide range of items under the Generalised System of Preferences of the American government.
