Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the connection between India and the United States is incredibly good, but the American government “as a policy” is not seeking for a free trade pact, adding that New Delhi would be delighted to discuss it if Washington changed its mind.
Goyal spoke with the media about his interactions with US businesspeople in San Francisco.
“India and the United States are both tremendously powerful in their own right. However, the US administration’s goal is not to seek a free trade deal with any new partner. If they alter their minds, India is delighted and eager to talk “He said.
Goyal did highlight, however, that India and the United States are always involved in working together to promote investments, technology, and commerce between the two nations through their trade strategy for the 2+2 ministerial discussion and Indo-Pacific dialogue, CEO forum.
“We (India and the United States) are also now ready to be more engaged in the Indo-Pacific economic framework, which will help us and may not be a full-fledged free trade agreement, but it will certainly be the contours of trade and help create more resilient supply chains and partnerships between businesses in the two countries,” he added.
India is in the process of negotiating free trade agreements with a number of nations and areas.
Goyal went on to say that they spoke with a number of business executives, including the CEOs of American firms such as Adobe. He met with approximately 30 senior captains of industry from the startup ecosystem venture capitalists, who shared their experiences on a number of very interesting suggestions to further the US-India engagement, flow of investments into India, creation of new jobs in India, and expressed tremendous confidence in the India story.
Starting Monday, the minister will travel to San Francisco and Los Angeles for a six-day tour to attend the India-US Strategic Partnership Forum conference and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) ministerial meeting.
On the margins of the IPEF ministerial conference, Goyal will meet with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and US Secretary of Commerce Gina M Raimondo. On May 23, the US and other Indo-Pacific area partner countries inaugurated the IPEF in Tokyo.
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